Rent Smart Wales

There are two different aspects to make clear from the beginning, these are
LANDLORD REGISTRATION and LANDLORD LICENSING

REGISTRATION

Any landlord who owns a property in Wales and rents it out (be that on an assured, assured shorthold or regulated tenancy) must register with Rent Smart Wales.

LICENSING

If you do not set up the tenancies and manage the property, you do not need to be licensed. In this respect, you will need to be using a licensed agent, and need to declare this during your registration.
If you do undertake in any letting and management tasks, you are required to apply for a licence – you are essentially described as being “self-managed”.

WHAT DO LANDLORDS NEED TO DO

You must make sure all of your properties are registered
If you completed your Landlord Accreditation Wales certificate before 06/08/2015 you will need to complete a free, online top up course (Part 1 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014: An Overview)
Online top ups are only free for the first 3 months of Rent Smart Wales for Landlord Accreditation Wales members (until the 29th June 2016)
If you completed your Landlord Accreditation Wales certificate on or after 06/08/2015, you training record will suffice.

COSTS TO REGISTER AS A LANDLORD

To register yourself and your properties online, the fee is £33.50. To register via paper, the fee is £80.50 per registration. Note, you only register ONCE, you do not need to register per property you own and rent.

DIFFERENT REGISTRATION TYPES

Individual Landlord: To register you will need to provide your full name, date of birth, correspondence and full address for each property.
Joint Landlord: The registration process (as above) will ask for a “lead” landlord. If the property is self-managed and the non-lead landlord does any letting/management, they then also need a landlord licence.
Company/Charity Landlord: If a property is owned by a company or charity, you must complete registration providing company/charity details, then following the same process as an individual landlord.
Trustee for a rental property – only one trustee can register, in the same manner as an individual landlord.

DO I NEED A LANDLORD LICENCE?

You will need a landlord licence is you do any of the below listed letting and management activities:
  • arranging or conducting viewings
  • gathering evidence for the purpose of establishing the suitability of prospective tenants
  • preparing or arranging the prep of an inventory or schedule of condition
  • collecting rent
  • being the principle point of contact for the tenant in relation to matters arising under the tenancy
  • making arrangements with a person to carry out repairs or maintenance
  • making arrangements with a tenant to secure access to the dwelling for any reason
  • checking the contents or condition of the dwelling – or arranging for them to be checked as part of a current tenancy or for one which has ended
  • serving notice to terminate a tenancy

WHO NEEDS TO BE TRAINED SO THAT A LANDLORD IS LICENSED

Generally the landlord is the person who will need to be trained under the new Rent Smart Wales scheme. However, for companies or landlords with a large portfolio, anyone that is connected must be trained and named (during the registration process).
A person connected is defined as:

“a person doing things under a contract of service or apprenticeship with an applicant for a licence where the applicant of the licence is acting on behalf of the landlord and the person does any of: Sub sections: 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3c of Section 10 in the act and Section 12 (1)”

Generally speaking, a person under a contract of service is a staff member who you pay a salary to or who is an “employee” for payroll services.
People/contractors you pay for the services they provide are not counted as connected.

HOW MUCH DOES A LANDLORD LICENCE FEE COST?

The cost is £144.00 if you go online, and the paper cost is £186.00.

LANDLORD TRAINING FOR A LICENCE

If you are a landlord & agent, an agent training will suffice
You can train via Rent Smart Wales run training or any of the approved training:
  • Landlord Training Wales
  • ARLA
  • Carmarthenshire County Council
  • Connells LTD
  • DPA Law
  • Guild of Residential Landlords LTD
  • NALS
  • RLA Wales
  • TFP Online Ltd

TOTAL COSTS TO YOU, THE LANDLORD

Registration @ £33.50 per separate landlord agreement
Landlord licence fee @ £144.00
Training fee – depending on the training selected.
Minimum costs therefore are £177.50
Note: Landlord Registration & Landlord Licenses must be renewed every 5 years.

ADDITIONAL FACTS

  • During landlord registration you can upload/register all of your properties, you don’t need to register per property
  • As a landlord you have to register – an agent can’t do it for you. What an agent can do is fully manage the property so that as a landlord you don’t need to be licensed.
  • A separate registration must be done for each landlord arrangement that a landlord is part of e.g. sole ownership, joint ownership & company ownership = 3 registration fees payable.
  • The fees collected are for the running of Rent Smart Wales, and will include support for landlords and agents across Wales.
  • The agent licence lasts for 5 years
  • Rent Smart Wales training day is an informal, 1 day course held in various locations across Wales
  • Rent Smart Wales laws are in addition to current housing multiple occupancy (HMO) laws