The How to Rent guide has been updated
Landlords in the habit of granting assured shorthold tenancies ('AST') will be familiar with the statutory requirement that the tenant of a new AST be provided with the current government's 'How to Rent' guide. This requirement has been in place since October 2015.
On 7 August 2019, with little fanfare, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government issued an updated version of the guide, which can be found here. The Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) Regulations 2015 requires that the version of the guide then in use is provided.
It is therefore vital that landlords ensure that, for new or newly rolling tenancies (those being statutory periodic tenancies) starting after 7 August 2019, they are providing this updated guide to their tenants.
Landlords who provided the older version to tenants before the 7 August do not need to worry, there is no requirement to provide tenants under existing ASTs with the new version.
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