The lettings industry risks sleep walking into an administrative and reputational time bomb just months away.

The warning comes from Rajeev Nayyar of Fixflo, an online repairs reporting system that can be used by tenants.

Nayyar said that with legislation passed to prevent retaliatory eviction taking effect for new tenancies from October, little time remains for letting agencies to get to grips with how repairs are reported to them and how quickly they respond.

From October, a tenant requesting a repair or complaining about the state of their property, and whose complaint is upheld as valid by the local council, must receive an “adequate response” within 14 days.

Agencies’ failure to comply with the requirements in the Deregulation Act could prevent their landlord clients from validly serving a Section 21 notice for six months.

Nayyar told Eye that the law seems so complicated, he has even received calls from housing enforcement officers at local authorities asking for advice as they try to get to grips with it.

This is despite the legal requirement for them to assess whether the poor condition of a property is sufficiently serious to prevent a landlord from validly serving a Section 21 notice.

Fixflo allows tenants to report repair problems in a number of languages. Nayyar believes that October’s change of law will accelerate the company’s growth, which has been extraordinary by any standards.

From a standing start just two years ago, it now has 900 UK agency offices using the system, and has expanded overseas.

Nayyar said: “For all of the talk about disruption and shaking things up, the technology that is finding greatest traction in the industry is quietly freeing up agencies to do what they do best, which is delivering a professional and personal service to clients.

“Our aim from inception has to be the standard way in which repairs are reported for managed properties.

“We have been extremely fortunate to have supportive clients who have helped us to develop a world-class solution that is finding traction both at home and across the globe.

“In the UK, the run-up to the election highlighted the increased importance of the private rented sector.

“With an ongoing supply/demand imbalance it’s clear that market forces alone won’t raise standards, but without enforcement neither will the increasing patchwork of legislation that agencies have to comply with.”

A guide for property managers to the change in law produced by ARLA and Fixflo is available to download here