Landlord guidance

Tenancy background checks

You can ask a prospective tenant to complete an application form giving you consent to obtain credit, previous Landlord and employer references. Make sure that the application form explicitly asks for their consent for you to have this information.

You must check that a tenant or lodger can legally rent your residential property in England. A right to rent check must be carried out within the 28 days before singing the tenancy

Check with the Home Office if the tenant is a Commonwealth citizen but does not have the right documents (opens new window)  - they might still have the right to rent in the UK.

Before the start of a new tenancy, you must check all tenants are over 18 years old, even if:

• They are not named on the tenancy agreement.
• There is no tenancy agreement.
• The tenancy agreement is not in writing.

Useful Links

• View Guide on Deposit Protection Schemes (opens new window)
• View Model tenancy agreement for an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (opens new window) 
• View Guide for landlords: electrical safety standards in the private rented sector (opens new window) 
• View Guide on How to Rent (opens new window) 
• View guide for landlord and tenants: Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (opens new window)

At Breckland District Council we run a Landlord Forum. This is a space where landlords are invited to learn about and discuss a wide range of topics, such as changes to legislation and grants available to landlords and tenants.

The next Landlord Forum is due to be held:

(The next date and venue for Breckland's Landlord Forum is yet to be announced)

Request attendance to online Landlord Forum

Previous Forums

Landlord Form - 27 January 2021

If you want your tenants to leave, you must give them notice in a particular way, including certain information and warnings. This depends on the type of tenancy agreement and its terms.

Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs)

In some circumstances you can take back your property without giving any reason. To do this, all of the following must apply:

• You have protected your tenants' deposit in a deposit protection scheme.
• You have given your tenants at least two months' written notice that you want the property back ('notice to quit') and the date they must leave.
• The date they must leave is at least six months after the original tenancy began (the one they signed on first moving in).
• They have a periodic tenancy, or they have a fixed-term tenancy and you are not asking them to leave before the end of the fixed term.

If your tenants are still in the fixed-term, you can only ask them to leave if you have a reason for wanting possession that is stated in the Housing Act 1988.

Examples of reasons include:

• Your tenants are behind with rent payments ('in arrears').
• Your tenants have used the property for illegal purposes, for example selling drugs.

Depending on the reason you're using, the notice period you must give could vary from two weeks to two months.

The Department for Communities and Local Government has information on reasons for possession for a property let on an AST.

If there's a break clause in the tenancy agreement, you can give your tenants notice after this. However, you do not have a guaranteed right to possession during the first six months of the tenancy.

Assured tenancies

You will need to use one of the reasons for possession in the Housing Act 1988.

Excluded tenancies or licences

If you live with a lodger and share rooms with them, you'll often have an excluded tenancy or licence.

In this case, you only need to give 'reasonable notice' to quit. Usually this means the length of the rental payment period. So, if you collect rent weekly, you'll need to give one weeks' notice.

Non-excluded tenancy or licence

You can end the agreement at any time by serving a written 'notice to quit'. The notice period will depend on the tenancy or agreement, but it's usually at least four weeks.

You cannot remove your tenants by force. If the notice period expires and your tenants do not leave the property, you can start the process of eviction through the courts.