Legal FAQs

A HMO (House in Multiple Occupation) Licence is required if the property is rented to five or more unrelated people who form more than one household. Tenants share amenities and facilities within the property such as kitchens, bathrooms and all communal areas.

This mainly applies to larger student properties, however, even if your property is smaller and rented to fewer people, a licence may still be required.

A landlord’s gas safety certificate, also referred to as the landlord’s gas safety record, is required by law to be held for all rental accommodation in the UK where there are gas appliances present.

It involves a gas safe registered engineer inspecting your gas appliances to ensure they are safe and working correctly. These are renewed every 12 months.

There is now a legal onus on all landlords to have an electrical installation condition report in place on all rented accommodation.

These are renewed every 5 years and any remedial required works and repairs will be communicated to you at the time if required.

An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) measures the energy efficiency of a property on a scale of A-G. Energy Performance Certificates were introduced in England and Wales in 2007 and are a legal requirement for a building to be sold, let or constructed.

Once obtained, an EPC is valid for 10 years. It gives you an idea of how expensive a property will be to run in terms of gas and electric bills.

Deposit Protection Scheme applies to all deposits for Assured Shorthold Tenancies. By law, a landlord or agent who receives a deposit for such a tenancy must protect the deposit. There are several Government Approved Schemes – we have chosen the DPS (Deposit Protection Scheme) to protect our tenants deposits.

A Right to Rent check is a requirement introduced by The Home Office in 2016 to reduce the number of people working and living in England illegally. 

Landlords need to check that all tenants who occupy their properties have legal status to live in the UK. This means that before you can rent a property from us, we must complete a Right to Rent in the UK check for all people, over the age of 18, who will be living in the property.  

Commonly, a Right to Rent in the UK check involves checking a prospective tenant’s eligible documentation (e.g. a passport) and confirming that the tenant has a likeness to the provided documentation. 

Completing your Right to Rent Check 

Your circumstances affect how you can complete a Right to Rent in the UK Check:  

If you are a British or Irish citizen with an in date GBR or IRE Passport. 

As a British or Irish citizen with an in date GBR or IRE Passport, you can complete a remote or in person Right to Rent check.  

Remote Right to Rent checks must be completed by a government approved identity service provider (IDSP). On request an email invitation to complete a remote Right to Rent Check can be provided; the email will be received from TrustID. 

TrustID will provide instructions on how to complete the check.  

NOTE: To complete a Right to Rent Check via an IDSP, you must have a valid, in date, GBR or IRE passport in your possession.  

After completing the remote check, we will contact you to conduct a likeness check, which can be completed via video call. 

In person Right to Rent checks will require you to attend our office, Wellbridge Property, Unit D Saddler’s Yard, Saddler Street, Durham, DH1 3NP

If you are a British or Irish citizen without an in date GBR or IRE Passport. 

As a British or Irish citizen without an in date GBR or IRE Passport you must complete an in person Right to Rent check.  

You must either have an original form of documentation from a list of acceptable identification documents (List A), or you will need to have two original forms of ID from List A Group 2.  

Once you have the original identification document(s), please book an in person visit to our office, Wellbridge Property, Unit D Saddler’s Yard, Saddler Street, Durham, DH1 3NP. 

If you are an Overseas National.  

As an Overseas National you must provide us with a Right to Rent share code.  

Upon confirming your share code and date of birth, please book either a remote likeness check via video call or an in-person check at our office, Wellbridge Property, Unit D Saddler’s Yard, Saddler Street, Durham, DH1 3NP.