A new guide has been published for tenants, called Renting a Safe Home.

On Friday – a busy day for the Government in terms of the private rented sector – the guide made its appearance alongside clampdowns on licensing schemes, a new briefing on retaliatory evictions, and advice to local authorities on tackling bad agents and landlords.

The new guide pre-empts the legal curbs on retaliatory evictions due to be implemented in October.

It tells tenants how to identify hazards, what the landlord’s obligations are, and what tenants can do if their landlord does not comply.

For example, it tells tenants not to be “frightened” about reporting concerns to the landlord or managing agent, and to report cases where a landlord has failed to make a repair to the local council.

The paper also spells out a landlord’s repairing obligations.

The guide is here