Jungle Property Blog

Short answer = landlord

Long answer….

1. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 section 11, which is implied into all tenancies of less than seven years duration, prescribes that the landlord must keep in repair and proper working order the installations for the supply of water including basins, sinks, baths and sanitary conveniences – a tap is part of the installation for the supply of water.

2. In Warren v Keen (1953) Lord Denning LJ stated ‘he (the tenant) must do the little jobs about the place which a reasonable tenant would do. In addition, he must, of course, not damage the house, wilfully or negligently; and he must see that his family and guests do not damage it; and if they do, he must repair it. But apart from such things, if the house falls into disrepair through fair wear and tear or lapse of time or for any reason not caused by him, then the tenant is not liable to repair it’ Using a tap repeatedly will inevitably lead to some wear and tear and with the lapse of time leak. Wear and tear is what tenants pay rent for.

3. Nowadays, the vast majority of modern taps use cartridges (typically ceramic disc) instead of rubber or leather washers. Would you trust a tenant to repair the installations in your property?

Time to get out your monkey wrench!

The legislation that paves the way for yet more legislation that will ban properties of low energy efficiency from the rental market is the Energy Act 2011 and in particular Section 43 here

It is anticipated the legislation governing this will come into force for April 2018 and  speculation is that the ban will apply to properties with a Band E or F rating.

If you have a rental property with a band E or F rating you need to do something now.

When do you have to provide a prospective tenant with the front page of the EPC?

It’s a bit of a trick question – the answer is never! The whole Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) must be made available to a prospective tenant and not just the front page. The most recent legislation on this is The Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 which took effect on 9 January 2013 and this is what it has to say on the matter…

Prospective tenant

As before, an EPC is to be made available to a prospective tenant.

A person becomes a prospective tenant in relation to a building when he or she –

• requests any information about the building from the relevant person or the relevant person’s agent for the purpose of deciding whether to buy or rent the building;
• makes a request to view the building for the purpose of deciding whether to buy or rent the building; or
• makes an offer, whether oral or written, to buy or rent the building.

When to make available the EPC

The making available and giving of the EPC requirements has been slightly re-worded and simplified.

The prospective landlord must make available free of charge a valid energy performance certificate to any prospective tenant at the earliest opportunity and in any event no later than whichever is the earlier of:

• The first time the prospective landlord makes available to a prospective tenant any written information (such as Lettings particulars for example) about the building to the person; or
• At the time which the prospective tenant views the building.

The landlord must ensure that a valid energy performance certificate has been given free of charge to the person who ultimately becomes the tenant.

As before, there is no requirement to make available an EPC if the prospective landlord believes on reasonable grounds that the prospective tenant

• is unlikely to have sufficient means to rent the building;
• is not genuinely interested in renting a building of a general description which applies to the building; or
• is not a person to whom the prospective landlord is likely to be prepared to rent out the building.