Landlord compliance in E17: the eight documents, in order.

Most compliance failures we untangle for new landlords aren’t negligence — they’re ordering mistakes. The document was obtained, but late; the certificate exists, but was never served; the licence application sat behind the tenancy instead of ahead of it. So rather than another checklist, here is the sequence. Eight documents, in the order the law expects them.

Before you market

1 · Energy Performance Certificate. You need an EPC before the first advert appears, it must be rated E or better to let lawfully, and it lasts ten years. If your rating is marginal, find out now — tighter minimums are expected, and improvement works are far easier to plan between tenancies than during one. We flag at-risk EPCs across our managed portfolio a year ahead.

2 · Your Waltham Forest property licence. The borough operates licensing across most of the private rented sector: a selective licence for typical single-household lets, an HMO licence for most shared houses. Letting without one risks a civil penalty of up to £30,000 and a rent repayment order — a tenant can reclaim up to twelve months of rent. Apply before the tenancy starts; a submitted application is your cover while the council processes it. We check which scheme applies to the exact address, submit, and diarise the renewal.

Before the tenant moves in

3 · Gas Safety Certificate (CP12). Every gas appliance checked annually by a Gas Safe engineer. The current record must be given to the tenant before they move in, and within 28 days of each renewal after that. This is the one document a court will not forgive workarounds on.

4 · Electrical safety report (EICR). A qualified inspection of the fixed wiring, valid five years, served on the tenant at the start. Any C1 or C2 faults must be remedied within 28 days, with proof of the works supplied. Budget for this — E17’s Victorian wiring has opinions.

5 · Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. A smoke alarm on every storey, a CO alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance, and all of them tested — and recorded as tested — on day one of the tenancy. It’s the cheapest item on this list and the one most often missing from inventories we inherit.

6 · Right to Rent checks. Immigration status verified for every adult who will occupy the property, before the tenancy starts, with compliant copies kept for its duration. Get the check wrong in either direction — skipping it, or doing it discriminatorily — and the penalties are personal to the landlord.

At signing, and the 30 days after

7 · The How to Rent guide. The current government edition, served at the start of the tenancy, with proof of service. It costs nothing and takes a minute — and failing to serve it can block a Section 21 notice years later, long after anyone remembers whose job it was. Serve it again whenever the tenancy renews and the edition has changed.

8 · Deposit protection and prescribed information. The deposit (capped at five weeks’ rent for rents under £50,000 a year) must be lodged with a government-approved scheme within 30 days, with the certificate and prescribed information served on the tenant in the same window. Done late or not at all, the penalty is up to three times the deposit — and, again, the loss of Section 21. This is the deadline that catches more self-managing landlords than any other.

On our fully managed service every item above is obtained, served, evidenced and diarised for renewal without the landlord lifting a finger — it’s the reason several of our longest-standing clients arrived after one missed deadline too many elsewhere. The full service breakdown, including fees with nothing hidden, is on the lettings page.