A first-year checklist if you have just become a UK landlord

New landlords often buy the sofa before they buy the carbon monoxide alarm. I get the impulse. The property looks empty, the listing needs photos, and the mortgage is already a monthly drum. The legal list is less photogenic. Do it first anyway.

This is a first-year order of operations for a standard let in England, not a complete encyclopaedia. If you have an HMO, a licence, or a leasehold building with extra rules, add those on top rather than skipping the basics.

Before you advertise

1. Insurance that actually covers letting, not a home policy you hope is "probably fine".
2. Mortgage permission if the loan requires it.
3. Smoke alarms on each storey, CO alarm where the rules ask for one.
4. Gas safety if there is gas, and an EICR that is in date.
5. An EPC you can show, at a legal rating.
6. A legionella assessment that matches the water system.
7. Check licensing on the council site for that postcode.

Choosing a tenant without folklore

Affordability, references, and Right to Rent beat a gut feeling in a 12-minute viewing. Gut feelings are how people discriminate without noticing. Use the same process for everyone who applies. Keep notes you would be willing to show a court.

Move-in day

Protect the deposit immediately. Give How to Rent, the safety records, the EPC, and the written tenancy terms. Do the inventory while the place is empty enough to photograph. Hand over the keys after that, not before. Show them how the boiler, the bins, and the meters work. A ten-minute walkthrough prevents a month of "the heating is broken" when the thermostat was set to off.

How you will talk to each other

Decide now. If the only channel is your personal WhatsApp, you will resent every drip photo at Sunday lunch. Put repairs in a proper thread with dates. Tell them how rent should be paid, and what happens if it is late, before it is late.

The first quiet months

Diary the gas anniversary. Diary the next EICR from the report date, not from "sometime in five years". Walk the place if you can when you have a lawful reason, or at least stay reachable. Damp in November is cheaper than damp in March. Read the tenancy rules as they are now, not as your uncle explains them from 2012.

You do not need software to be a decent landlord. You need a system. Tenlord is one system. A rigid folder and a calendar can be another. What you cannot afford is a memory and a group chat.