Scope: England, with the Welsh position flagged where it diverges. Wales replaced tenancies with occupation contracts in December 2022 and runs a separate regime throughout — if your property is in Wales, start with Rent Smart Wales. Verified against the legislation on 10 August 2026.
Most first-time landlord guides give you a list. A list is the wrong shape, because these duties are not interchangeable — three of them cannot be done late, and doing them in the wrong order is how an otherwise careful landlord ends up unable to recover their own property.
This page is the order. Each step links to the article that explains it; nothing here restates them.
Before you advertise
1. Check whether the property needs a licence
This comes first because it can stop everything else. Letting a licensable property without a licence is a criminal offence, and it exposes you to a civil penalty of up to £30,000 and a rent repayment order of up to twelve months' rent. Licensing is council by council: mandatory HMO licensing applies everywhere, but selective and additional schemes are local designations that change. Check your council before you do anything else.
2. Confirm you are allowed to let at all
A residential mortgage almost always forbids letting without consent, and a lease on a flat may forbid it outright. See consent to let versus a buy-to-let mortgage.
3. Get the EPC — and check the band
You need a valid Energy Performance Certificate before you market the property, and it must be band E or better to let at all under the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015. This is a genuine stopper: a band F or G property cannot lawfully be let without a registered exemption.
Before a tenant moves in
4. Gas, electrical, alarms
A Gas Safety Record if there is any gas appliance, an EICR dated within five years, and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to the 2022 standard. The alarms must be tested and working on the first day of the tenancy — not merely installed.
5. Right to Rent
England only. Check every adult occupier before the tenancy starts, not after. A first breach is up to £10,000 per occupier, and the check is one of the things that cannot be done retrospectively — a check made after move-in is not a defence.
6. The inventory
Do it before the keys change hands, with dated photographs. An inventory made after move-in is close to worthless in a deposit dispute, because it cannot show the condition the tenant received.
On day one, and within 30 days
7. Serve the documents
The first tenancy checklist lists exactly what goes out and when. In England that includes the How to Rent guide, the EPC, the Gas Safety Record, and — since the Renters' Rights Act — the written statement and information sheet.
8. Protect the deposit
Within 30 days of receiving it, in an authorised scheme, and serve the prescribed information in the same window. This is the second thing that cannot be fixed late: protect it on day 31 and you remain exposed to a penalty of one to three times the deposit. See also the Welsh position.
The three you cannot fix afterwards
Everything above can, in practice, be corrected late with some cost and some risk. These three cannot:
- The deposit deadline. Thirty days is thirty days. Late protection does not cure the breach.
- The Right to Rent check. It must precede occupation.
- The inventory. Evidence of the property's condition on day one cannot be created on day two hundred.
Everything else on this page is a duty. These three are deadlines, and deadlines are the ones that end up in front of a tribunal.
Then it keeps going
Gas annually, EICR every five years, EPC every ten. Licence renewals on the council's cycle. And from late 2026, registration on the PRS Database — the one obligation that does not vary by council, and which bars you from a possession order while you are not on it.
Run the free compliance check and we will tell you which of these apply to your specific property, with the legislation behind each one.
Common questions
What is the very first thing I should do?
Check whether the property needs a licence, because it can stop everything else. Mandatory HMO licensing applies across England and Wales, but selective and additional schemes are local designations that vary council by council and change over time. Letting a licensable property without a licence is a criminal offence carrying a civil penalty of up to £30,000 and a rent repayment order of up to twelve months rent.
Which steps cannot be fixed if I miss them?
Three. Deposit protection must happen within 30 days of receiving the deposit and late protection does not cure the breach. The Right to Rent check must precede occupation, so a check made afterwards is not a defence. And the inventory must record the condition the tenant received, which cannot be recreated later. Everything else can usually be corrected with some cost and some risk.
Is the sequence different in Wales?
Substantially. Wales replaced assured shorthold tenancies with occupation contracts on 1 December 2022 under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, tenants are contract-holders, and every landlord must register with Rent Smart Wales regardless of whether they use an agent. Right to Rent does not apply in Wales. Start with the Rent Smart Wales article rather than this one.
Do I need all of this if I am only letting one room?
Letting a room in your own home to a lodger is a licence to occupy rather than a tenancy, and several duties fall away — you cannot, for instance, protect a deposit in a scheme for a lodger. But letting rooms to three or more people from two or more households may make the property a house in multiple occupation, which brings additional duties rather than fewer.