The short version
A managing letting agent in 2026 is responsible for keeping every let property across a portfolio compliant on a dozen separate obligations, each with its own renewal cycle, its own document, and its own penalty for getting it wrong. The legal duty mostly sits with the landlord, but the operational burden — arranging the work, holding the certificate, serving it on the tenant, proving you did it — lands on the agent providing full management.
This is the complete checklist, grouped by what applies to every tenancy, what applies to specific property types, and what is changing under the Renters' Rights Act. For each item: what it is, how often it renews, and the link to our deep guide. The penalties are real and they stack per breach — an unlicensed HMO and a lapsed EICR are two £30,000 problems on the same property.
If you read nothing else: the items most commonly missed are the EICR five-year renewal and the HMO licence renewal, precisely because they fall outside the annual rhythm everyone builds around the gas certificate. Build your system to surface those early.
The non-negotiables — every tenancy
These apply to essentially every assured shorthold tenancy in England. Miss one and you are exposed from day one.
Gas Safety Record (CP12) — annual. Where a property has any gas appliance, pipework, or flue, a Gas Safe registered engineer must inspect it every 12 months and issue a Landlord Gas Safety Record. Give a copy to the tenant within 28 days, and to a new tenant before they move in. You can renew up to two months before expiry without losing the original anniversary date — use that window. The expired certificate is one of the most common reasons a possession claim gets struck out. See what happens when a gas safety certificate expires.
EICR (electrical safety) — every 5 years. Under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, every rented property needs a satisfactory Electrical Installation Condition Report at least every five years, carried out by a qualified electrician. Provide it to the tenant within 28 days and to the local authority within seven days on request. Any C1, C2, or FI codes must be remedied within 28 days. A breach can cost up to £30,000. This is the single most-missed renewal because it sits outside the annual cycle. See the full EICR requirements guide.
EPC — valid 10 years, minimum band E. A property cannot be let without a valid Energy Performance Certificate, and under the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards it must be at least band E (limited exemptions aside). The government has consulted on raising the minimum to band C for new tenancies from 2028 and all tenancies from 2030 — start planning improvement works on your worst performers now, because assessor and installer capacity will tighten as the deadline approaches. See EPC requirements for rental property.
Smoke and CO alarms — check at every change, repair on report. Under the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 (as amended October 2022), you need a smoke alarm on every storey with living accommodation and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room used as living accommodation that contains a fixed combustion appliance (excluding gas cookers). Test on the first day of a new tenancy and repair or replace any reported faulty alarm as soon as reasonably practicable. See smoke and CO alarm regulations.
Right to Rent — before the tenancy starts. You must check that every adult occupier has the right to rent in England before the tenancy begins, using a manual check, a Home Office online check, or a certified Identity Service Provider. Keep dated copies and diarise any time-limited follow-up checks. Liability falls on whoever conducts the check — frequently the agent — and a failure can reach £20,000 per illegal occupier.
Deposit protection — within 30 days. Any tenancy deposit must be protected in a government-approved scheme within 30 days of receipt, and the prescribed information served on the tenant within the same 30 days. Get this wrong and the landlord faces a penalty of one to three times the deposit and cannot serve a valid Section 21 notice. See deposit protection deadlines and prescribed information.
Legionella risk assessment — assess and review. There is no certificate, but landlords have a duty under health and safety law to assess and control the risk of legionella in the water system. For most domestic lets this is a straightforward written risk assessment, reviewed periodically or when the system changes. See legionella risk assessments for rental property.
Property-specific obligations
These do not apply to every property — but where they do, they carry some of the heaviest penalties of all.
HMO licence — mandatory for larger HMOs. A property let to five or more people forming two or more households, sharing facilities, needs a mandatory HMO licence from the local authority, typically renewed on a five-year cycle. Licensed HMOs carry tighter fire safety, amenity, and room-size standards. Operating an unlicensed HMO risks a civil penalty up to £30,000 (or an unlimited fine on conviction) plus a rent repayment order of up to 12 months' rent. This is the second most-missed renewal after the EICR. See HMO licensing for landlords and agents.
Selective and additional licensing — area-dependent. Many councils run selective licensing (covering all private rentals in a designated area) or additional licensing (covering smaller HMOs). These are local, time-limited designations, so check the council for every property's postcode and re-check at renewal — a scheme can be introduced or renewed without you noticing.
Fire safety and furnishings. Furniture and furnishings supplied in a let must meet the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations 1988. HMOs and buildings with common parts carry additional duties under fire safety legislation, including fire doors, emergency lighting, and a fire risk assessment in many cases.
PAT testing. Not strictly mandated for most single-household lets, but electrical appliances supplied with the property must be safe, and portable appliance testing is the standard way to evidence that. For HMOs it is effectively expected.
What's changing — the Renters' Rights Act
The Renters' Rights Act introduces obligations that are operational, not optional, and they change the agent's compliance workload materially.
PRS Database registration. Landlords and managing agents must register themselves and their properties on the new Private Rented Sector Database before marketing or letting. Treat this as a new pre-tenancy gate alongside Right to Rent. See the PRS Database registration checklist.
Mandatory ombudsman membership. Landlord redress becomes mandatory — agents and landlords must join an approved ombudsman scheme, with penalties for letting while unregistered.
Awaab's Law in the PRS. Hazard-response timescales originally aimed at social housing extend into the private rented sector, putting hard clocks on how quickly you must investigate and fix serious hazards once reported. Build the reporting-to-resolution trail now. See the Awaab's Law workflow guide.
The end of Section 21. With the abolition of no-fault evictions, possession runs through the Section 8 grounds — which makes watertight compliance records even more important, because a defective gas or deposit position can sink a possession claim. See Section 8 grounds for possession in 2026.
For the consolidated view of everything the Act changes, see the Renters' Rights Act 2026 compliance checklist and the operations checklist for agents.
The renewal cycle at a glance
| Obligation | Frequency | Document | Penalty for breach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gas Safety Record (CP12) | Every 12 months | Landlord Gas Safety Record | Unlimited fine / invalid possession |
| EICR | At least every 5 years | Electrical Installation Condition Report | Up to £30,000 |
| EPC | Every 10 years (min. band E) | Energy Performance Certificate | Up to £5,000 (MEES) |
| Smoke / CO alarms | Test at tenancy start; repair on report | — | Up to £5,000 |
| Right to Rent | Before tenancy + follow-ups | Dated check records | Up to £20,000 per occupier |
| Deposit protection | Within 30 days | Scheme certificate + prescribed info | 1–3× deposit; invalid Section 21 |
| Legionella | Assess + periodic review | Risk assessment | HSE enforcement |
| HMO licence | ~Every 5 years (council) | HMO licence | Up to £30,000 + RRO |
| Selective / additional licence | Area-dependent term | Council licence | Up to £30,000 + RRO |
| PRS Database | Before letting (ongoing) | Database registration | Penalty for unregistered letting |
Penalty figures are indicative maximums and vary by enforcement route, severity, and repeat offending — see the full landlord fines breakdown for the detail.
How to actually stay on top of it
The list above is not hard to understand. It is hard to track — because the obligations renew on different cycles (annual, five-yearly, ten-yearly, ad hoc), across a portfolio where every property is on its own clock, with penalties that only surface when something has already lapsed.
Three things separate agencies that stay compliant from agencies that get caught out:
- 1Early warning, not last-minute panic. Every renewal that needs a contractor wants a 90-day lead time. A reminder ladder that fires at 90, 60, 30, 14, and 7 days before expiry turns a cliff-edge into a managed task.
- 2A portfolio-wide view. You need to see, at a glance, which properties are overdue (red), expiring soon (amber), and compliant (green) — across the whole book, not one property at a time.
- 3Defensible evidence. When a council inspector, a trading standards officer, or a tenant's solicitor asks, you need to produce a verifiable record of what was done and when — not go hunting through email attachments.
A spreadsheet covers the first job badly and the second and third not at all. We lay out exactly where the spreadsheet breaks in compliance software vs spreadsheet, and compare the dedicated tools in the best compliance tracking software for letting agents.
This is the problem Proplio was built for: every property, every compliance type, every expiry date in one RAG dashboard; automatic reminders at 90/60/30/14/7 days; a one-click audit-ready PDF pack per property with a verification ID; and read-only landlord share links so your clients can see their own compliance without a single email. Flat £29/month, unlimited properties, unlimited team.
Key takeaways
- A managing agent owns the operational compliance burden for every let property, even though the statutory duty usually sits with the landlord.
- The non-negotiables on every tenancy are gas, EICR, EPC, alarms, Right to Rent, deposit protection, and a legionella assessment. HMOs and licensed areas add more.
- The EICR five-year renewal and the HMO licence renewal are the most commonly missed, because they fall outside the annual gas-certificate rhythm — build your system to surface them early.
- The Renters' Rights Act adds the PRS Database, mandatory ombudsman membership, and Awaab's Law timescales as live operational obligations.
- Penalties stack per breach and reach £30,000 on a single property. A 90-day reminder ladder, a portfolio-wide RAG view, and a defensible audit trail are what keep an agency on the right side of all of it.
This checklist reflects UK private-rented-sector compliance as of May 2026 and is written for letting agents in England. It is general guidance, not legal advice — verify specifics against current legislation and your local authority's licensing schemes. Proplio is our product.