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The long-awaited Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 will be brought into force on 15th July 2022. The Act represents the biggest change to housing law that Wales has seen for decades.
In our opinion, the most noticeable change for landlords and agents will be that Wales will see the end of the current Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement that we are all familiar with and in its place will be the introduction of two types of statutorily regulated occupation contracts.
There will be a secure contract which will be used primarily by community and social landlords, councils, housing associations etc. The second type is the standard occupation contract which must be used by all private landlords and letting agents. The Act takes a “consumer protection “approach and it ensures that all landlords provide contract holders (tenants) with a written contract.
All occupation contracts will contain four types of terms:-
- Key provisions - these are terms unique to the contract such as the property address and the amount of rent.
- Fundamental provisions – these set out the rights and obligations of landlords and contract holders such as grounds for possession, repairing obligations etc.
- Supplementary provisions – these deal with the practical matters such as receipts for rent, permission to change utility providers, alterations to the property
- Additional provisions – these deal with any other terms that have been agreed between the landlord and the contract holder – the most common one being the keeping of pets.
If you require more information, please contact our Lettings team on 01446 771777.
