If you’re a landlord in Wales, you need to register with Rent Smart Wales, and you may also require a landlord license. Read our quick guide to find out more.
What is Rent Smart Wales licensing & registration about? Rent Smart Wales helps landlords ensure they fulfil their Housing (Wales) obligations. The act is the first of its kind in Wales and aims improve the supply, quality and standard of housing. As well as providing advice on renting out safe and healthy homes, Rent Smart Wales processes landlord registrations, grants licences and provides training for landlords – both online and in classroom venues across Wales.
Registration with Rent Smart Wales
If you own a rental property, you probably need to register with Rent Smart Wales. Agents can’t do this on your behalf. You can register online or on a paper form, but online is cheaper and quicker: £45 for new registration and £36 for renewal, as opposed to £84 and £67.20 respectively for doing the same process on paper. Registration is valid for 5 years; if you’re renewing your registration, you need to do so 84 days before the registration expires to take advantage of the reduced fee.
There are some exemptions to the Rent Smart Scheme: it doesn’t apply to lodgers who share your amenities, to residential dwellings that are part of an agricultural agreement, to commercial lets, to holiday lets, to accommodation rented on a license (this typically includes university owned accommodation and accommodation used for asylum seekers and lodgers), to temporary residential accommodation such as caravans, mobile homes and house boats, to rental properties outside Wales, and to property owned by a freeholder who leases it our under a leasehold (although if the leaseholder rents out a property, they will need to register).
If you are eligible to register but fail to do so, you can face a fixed penalty notice of up to £150, prosecution and unlimited fines, a rent repayment order, a rent stopping order, and restriction of your ability to secure possession of the property.
Licensing with Rent Smart Wales
If you undertake the letting and management of your property, you will need a Rent Smart Wales landlord license as well as registration. Alternatively, you can get a licensed agent such as Morgan Jones to undertake the letting and management of the property for you.
You can apply for the license online but before applying you need to complete landlord training delivered by Rent Smart Wales or an approved external training provider. This is delivered online or through classroom training. The online option costs £30 while the classroom option costs £100.
A license lasts 5 years and costs £187 online or £223 for a paper license. Every license is issued with a set of conditions you must follow: the license can be revoked if you don’t comply with these. The code of practice can be viewed here.
Need More Help?
Need help? Rather than finding tenants and managing your property yourself, you can get the experienced, fully licensed team at Morgan Jones to do it for you. Get in touch today to find out about our expertise, competitive fees and outstanding track record.