Many tenants and landlords unaware of laws governing the sector

A landlord must provide an Energy Performance Certificate for the property, however 34% of those asked were not aware of this.

Many tenants and landlords unaware of laws governing the sector

Millions of tenants and landlords across the country are unaware of the laws governing the rental sector, research from LetBritain has revealed.

The survey of 2,000 UK adults has shown over a third (37%) of UK tenants and 16% of landlords do not know that renters must be given at least two months’ notice if a landlord wishes to evict them.

A landlord must provide an Energy Performance Certificate for the property, however 34% of those asked were not aware of this.

This comes as the number of privately rented households is due to grow from the 5.4 million it is currently to 7.2 million by 2021 according to an annual report by Knight Frank.

Fareed Nabir, chief executive of LetBritain, said: “Today’s research delivers some really important findings.

“It is clear that a huge proportion of UK renters – a population growing in size – do not truly understand the legislation and regulation in place to protect them.

“Likewise, a concerning number of landlords are also in the dark about exactly what rights and responsibilities they have.

“Such a lack of awareness increases the risk of renters and landlords being exploited – it must be addressed and lettings agents certainly have a duty to better inform all their customers about the vital legislative framework governing the rental sector.”