Wales has moved forward with its new renting regime by laying a second tranche of subordinate legislation before the Welsh Parliament.
The measures are needed to support implementation of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 scheduled to come into effect in July this year.
This, according to Welsh minister for climate change, Julie James will make it simpler and easier to rent a home in Wales. It will replace ‘various, complex pieces of existing legislation with one clear legal framework’, she said.
New ‘occupation contracts’ will replace current residential tenancies and licenses, making the rights and obligations of both landlord and tenant or licensee (referred to in the Act as the ‘contract-holder’) much clearer.
There are four statutory instruments in the second tranche of measures. A third and final tranche of approximately nine statutory instruments is promised for June 2022 .
All four of the latest statutory instruments are concerned with procedural and practical matters, said James They comprise:
- The Renting Homes (Prescribed Forms) (Wales) Regulations 2022, setting out 38 prescribed forms of notice;
- The Renting Homes (Review of Decisions) (Wales) Regulations 2022, relating to procedures to be followed by community landlords and charities providing landlord functions, including when reviewing termination of an introductory standard contract or a prohibited conduct standard contract.
- The Renting Homes (Deposit Schemes) (Required Information) (Wales) Regulations 2022, extending deposit protection to all contracts where a deposit is taken; and
- The Renting Homes (Safeguarding Property in Abandoned Dwellings) (Wales) Regulations 2022, setting out how landlords are required to deal with any possessions that have been left in rentals abandoned by contract-holders.
