First-time landlord checklist for England

Before you advertise

1. Mortgage. Ask your lender for consent to let, or move to a buy-to-let mortgage. Letting without consent can breach the mortgage.
2. Lease. If the home is leasehold, read the lease: it may need the freeholder's consent and may restrict letting or pets.
3. Insurance. Tell your insurer, or take out a landlord policy. An ordinary home policy may not cover a let.
4. Licensing. Check your council's website for mandatory HMO, additional or selective licensing. Apply before the tenancy starts if one applies.
5. Gas. If there is gas, have every appliance and flue you provide checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and every 12 months after.
6. Electrics. Have an EICR done (every five years) and fix any C1, C2 or FI item within 28 days.
7. EPC. Get an EPC rated E or better, or register an exemption. Show the rating in the advert.
8. Alarms. A smoke alarm on every storey used as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance (a gas cooker alone does not count).
9. Fire and furniture. If you let it furnished, upholstered furniture you supply must meet the fire safety rules. Keep escape routes clear.
10. Repairs and hazards. Fix anything that could harm a tenant: damp and mould, broken heating, loose stairs. Do a legionella risk assessment (you can do it yourself for a simple home).

Finding a tenant

1. Advertise a rent. State it clearly. You cannot invite or accept offers above it. Do not advertise or refuse on the basis that someone receives benefits or has children.
2. Holding deposit. At most one week's rent, repaid within seven days in most cases.
3. Right to rent. Check every adult who will live there, before the tenancy starts, the same way for everyone. Keep the evidence.
4. References. Your choice, from a firm of your choice. The decision on who to let to is yours.

Signing up

1. Written statement of terms. For every tenancy agreed since 1 May 2026, give the tenant the required written information before you agree the tenancy: your name and an address in England or Wales for notices, the rent and when it is due, the deposit, the start date, who repairs what and which bills they pay. It is usually part of the agreement. (The government's Information Sheet was for tenancies that began before 1 May 2026.) Every new tenancy is an assured periodic tenancy: there is no fixed term.
2. Rent in advance. Nothing before signing; at most one month's rent between signing and the start.
3. Documents. Give the tenant the gas safety record, the EICR and the EPC before they move in.
4. Deposit. At most five weeks' rent (annual rent under £50,000). Protect it with DPS, mydeposits or TDS and give the prescribed information within 30 days.

Moving in

1. Inventory. A dated check-in report with photos, signed by both of you if possible.
2. Alarms on day one. Check they work on the day the tenancy starts and note it.
3. Meter readings and who to call for repairs.

After the tenancy starts

1. Landlord database. Register yourself and the home when the Private Rented Sector Database opens for your region (from 15 December 2026, region by region; £65 a home a year). A landlord ombudsman will follow, with membership expected from 2028.
2. Rent. Paid into your own account. Keep a rent record from the first payment.
3. Tax. Register for Self Assessment by 5 October after the tax year in which you first had rental income, if you do not already send a return. Keep every receipt. Check whether Making Tax Digital applies to you.
4. Diary. Gas every year, EICR every five years, EPC every ten, licence renewal, rent review at most once a year by section 13 notice.

Coming later

A Decent Homes Standard for private rented homes and Awaab's Law timescales for damp and hazards are planned; the dates are still to be set. The EPC minimum is planned to rise to C from 1 October 2030, subject to new law.

LevelMoves can keep these dates and papers for each home and remind you before each one is due.

This guide is information about the law in England, not legal advice.