New UK laws to protect expat landlords as well as tenants

If you’re looking to supplement your UK state and private pensions via buy-to-let investments in the home country, it’s wise to keep an eye on new taxes and laws.

This March, two important changes affecting both letting agents and landlords will become law, with one benefiting expat investors and the other causing a few problems for expat landlords. The first is a law forcing letting agents to set up protection for clients’ letting revenues, thus safeguarding the cash they hold on behalf of tenants and landlords. The law was passed as a result of reports over the past several years of letting agents shutting up shop and disappearing with clients’ money, with some tens of thousands of pounds unable to be recovered.

The new law gives letting agents just over two weeks to get their arrangements for clients’ money in order by joining a UK government scheme which will pay out should they misuse funds trusted to them or close down whilst still holding clients’ cash or owing money. Housing minister Heather Wheeler told the media it’s not acceptable that landlords and tenants are regularly being put at risk by agents who haven’t taken on a way to safeguard their money. Most agents, she said, do act responsibly, with the new law ensuring all agents must do the same or be closed down.

The second new law protects tenants from landlords who don’t provide good living standards in their properties. Once the law is established, it will be an offence for landlords to rent out accommodation which doesn’t comply with the Fitness for Human Habitation Act 2018. The act opens doors for renters to claim compensation if their rented homes fall below the given standards which include safety as well as poor conditions in general. The law contains no new requirements, but strengthens tenants’ rights to ensure landlords are providing secure, safe accommodation.