Renting privately

If you rent your home from a private landlord and have questions about your rights, or need further advice or information, please contact us.

Tenancy Relations Service

The Tenancy Relations Service operates a telephone advice service on Wednesdays and Thursdays between 10 am - 3:30 pm.

For urgent enquiries outside these times please call Housing Options on 0161 770 4605.

 

How to Rent guide

 

'How to Rent' guide

How to Rent a guide to your rights and responsibilities as a private tenant. Your landlord should have provided you with a copy when you began renting.

You can view or download How to Rent from GOV.UK:

 

Some common questions

Your landlord can increase your rent. However, they need to follow the correct procedure. For most private tenants your rent can be increased if you:

  • agree to a new rent
  • sign a new contract
  • have a rent review clause in your contract and get a section 13 notice, of a rent increase from your landlord

You may be able to refuse or challenge a rent increase depending on the level of increase and the process your landlord follows. 

However, this can be assessed on an individual basis so please contact Tenancy Relations for more information and advice.

If your landlord refuses to carry out repairs or fails to respond to you in a reasonable time frame, you can report this to the Council’s Environmental Health Team.

Provide any photos or evidence you have when you report the problem to the council. The council's Environmental Health Team may arrange an inspection of your home.

Following an assessment, Environmental Health may instruct your landlord to carry out repairs or property improvements.

Your landlord must arrange for a gas safety inspection to be carried out every 12 months by a Gas Safe registered engineer.

Landlords must keep a record of the safety check for 2 years and issue a copy to each existing tenant within 28 days of the check being completed and issue a copy to any new tenants before they move in.

If you don’t have a current gas safety record for your property, you should report this to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) via the LGSR1 Form

More information can be found on the HSE website:

If your letting agent doesn’t respond to your written complaint within 8 weeks or they don’t solve your problem, you can complain to their independent complaints body.

The complaints body is a service that helps resolve any problems you may have with your letting agent, it’s also known as a ‘redress scheme’.

Your letting agent must be registered to one of the following redress schemes:

Ask your letting agent which body they belong to or check on the regulatory bodies’ website. You can submit a complaint by filling in an online form on the regulatory bodies’ websites.

If you want to write a letter you can find the address for the regulatory bodies on their website.

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are needed whenever a property is: built, sold or rented. An EPC allows you to see how energy-efficient a property is before signing a tenancy agreement. You can check if your property has an EPC on the link below.