Landlord Licensing

A regulation was introduced in Wales which applies to all landlords and agents of private residential property. The regulations became enforceable by Rent Smart Wales (RSW) on 23 November 2016, requiring landlords and agents to comply with the new legislation, licensing those who deal with letting and management activities of properties within the private rented sector.

Landlords and agents of property in Wales are required by law to be registered or licensed.

This legislation ensures:

• Improved standards of letting and management practice in the private rented sector in Wales
• More information on landlords available for contract holder/future occupiers verification and for local authorities to assist with strategic intervention and dissemination of information
• Raised awareness by landlords and agents of their respective rights and responsibilities and raised awareness by contract holders of their respective rights and responsibilities.

Rent Smart Wales (RSW) is based within Cardiff Council, with local authorities being responsible for any necessary enforcement action against non-compliance under the RSW regulation.

Landlord Registration

Since 23 November 2015, all Landlords with privately rented property let out on a domestic tenancy in Wales are legally required to register with Rent Smart Wales in order to comply with the law.  Domestic tenancies are Standard Occupation Contracts under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016.

The immediate landlord of a rental property in Wales needs to complete a landlord registration and must do so themselves. A landlord registration involves providing landlord personal details, rental property addresses owned by that landlord, and the details of those responsible for the letting and/or management activities at the rental property.

A landlord could be:

• An individual
• Two or more persons who own a rented property jointly
• A company
• A charity; or
• A trust

Joint landlords simply register through one registration. A joint landlord arrangement will require one landlord to act as the ‘lead’ landlord for the purposes of registration.

For a company, charity or trust, the details provided should be those of the organisation, not the individual completing the registration and the company/charity registration numbers will also be required. These can be found on Companies House for limited companies and LLCs and on the Charity Commission for charities.

For further information on landlord registration or to begin your registration application please visit Rent Smart Wales 

Landlord Licensing

After completing a landlord registration, a landlord conducting letting and managing activities at properties they own needs to apply for a landlord licence and complete the necessary landlord training.  Such landlords are often described as 'self-managing'.

Landlords who are not involved in issuing contracts and managing their rental properties do not need a licence; however they must appoint a licensed agent.

Further information on landlord license requirements or to begin your application please visit Rent Smart Wales   

If your property is managed by Dawsons, you need NOT worry

As a market leading letting agent, Dawsons began to prepare for this change in January of 2015. Therefore ensuring our already knowledgeable and experienced staff are fully compliant and able to assist our clients at all stages of the letting process. This requirement along with several others such as: client money protection, and affiliation to a recognised redress scheme, ensured Dawsons was amongst the very first licensed agents in Wales.

Our forward thinking and interaction, ensures our managed landlords can rest assured their requirements, their dwelling occupiers and of course their property will always remain in safe hands.

Whilst Dawsons will be the license holder that you connect to your managed rental property as a landlord you will still need to ensure you are registered to comply with legislation.

The requirement of LANDLORD REGISTRATION, can be completed on line by visiting www.rentsmart.gov.wales or by requesting a paper form to complete by calling 03000 133344. If you have any queries or require any assistance, please do not hesitate to speak to a member of our staff at any of our local branches who will be delighted to help where we can.

Do you manage your own property? Don’t worry, Dawsons can help.

Many self managing landlords once aware of the requirements by Rent Smart Wales will decide it is the ideal time to approach a local and trusted letting agent for additional information. Taking this into account, we at Dawsons have prepared for this very eventuality, to begin the process of property management on their behalf, thus dealing with all of the licensing requirements. For this advice, and to discover the many benefits and services of being a Dawsons landlord, please visit or call one of our 5 dedicated offices.

For those landlords who wish to continue with self management and wish to obtain a landlords license with RSW, you will need to undertake some form of training, whether this be online or a classroom based course we can assist you.

Dawsons Training Wales is a RSW approved training provider and offers the most affordable and simplified course available, being established in early 2019 our course is also up to date with all current legislation. To access further information or to partake in on our training courses please visit www.dawsonstrainingwales.co.uk

How property is let in Wales has changed as the ‘Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016’ was implemented on 1st December 2022. Please visit our blog here for further information:

What you need to know about property legislation changes in Wales (dawsonsproperty.co.uk)