Update: A new How to Rent guide was released in early July 2018.
Today the Government released a new version of their How to Rent guide.
All tenants must be provided with a copy of this guide at the start of a new tenancy. So all tenancies from today (June 26th 2018) must include the new version.
The latest version includes largely the same information but has been given a completely new design, cover image and layout. The checklists are much clearer to read and there's a bit more supporting information included.
Here's the previous cover and the new one:
I quite like the bricks on the cover of the previous edition (from January) but I have to agree that the latest one looks more modern.
The How to Rent guide is issued by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. You can download the PDF directly here.
How to issue the guide to tenants
So what's the best way to legally issue the How to Rent guide to your new tenants?
Well the simplest method is to use the automated tenancy start process in PaTMa. Just enter the basic information for your new tenancy and tenants, click to generate the AST and send it straight to your tenants for online signing. The default AST template includes provision for serving the How to Rent guide (and other documents) by email. So once your tenants have signed up, it's just another click to send them a complete welcome pack - including the How to Rent guide, the property's EPC, your latest gas safety certificate and your chosen deposit scheme terms.
We'll always make sure the latest How to Rent guide is included - you'll never have to worry about checking with the Ministry of Housing and downloading the latest guide again.
If you prefer the manual approach you can always email the guide yourself - just make sure your tenancy contract allows for it.
Or for those few who'd really rather collect bits of paper, the guide can be printed out and physically handed to your tenants. However the electronic version of the guide does include lots of links to extra information so I really recommend issuing the PDF version if you can.
