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Welsh Letting Agents Must be Trained Too
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
New legislation regarding the private rental sector in Wales will not only apply to landlords, but also to letting agents.
Welsh Letting Agents Must be Trained Too
The Welsh Government is introducing the Rent Smart Wales scheme, which will require all private landlords in the country to be licensed. The date of the scheme’s launch is yet to be confirmed.
Find out what the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) thinks about it: /rla-believes-that-landlords-dont-need-more-regulation/.
The scheme requires landlords to register their rental properties and undertake unspecified training to obtain a license, if they wish to manage the property themselves.
Now, it has been revealed that letting and management agents will also have to be licensed and trained.
Documents regarding the scheme can be found here: http://gov.wales/topics/housing-and-regeneration/housing-supply/renting/privately/landlord-and-agent-registration/?lang=en.
The relevant part of the documentation says: “Training for agents has yet to be set, but will cover both the agents’ relationship with tenants as well as with their client landlords. Classroom based and online training should be available in future.”
The legislation, amendments to the Housing (Wales) Act 2014, gives power to individual local authorities to implement the legal aspects of the scheme as well as register landlords and grant licenses.
After the first year of operation, in autumn 2016, the enforcement powers detailed in the legislation – including fixed penalty notices and prosecution – will be introduced, and landlords and agents that ignore the obligations will have action taken against them by local authorities and the licensing authority.
