Just a quick note to record that The Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 have been made. The only purpose of these regulations is to address the mess that had been made of the prescribed section 21 notice included in the The Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) Regulations 2015, which as we noted had, well, problems. This new version at least lacks obvious horrors.
Also, after a bit of a hiccough in the Lords, The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 will be in force from 1 October 2015. In short, each storey of a let property must have a smoke alarm. A carbon monoxide detector must be fitted in any residential room with a solid fuel burning appliance. The detectors & alarms must be checked on each new tenancy by the landlord. Local Authorities can enforce any breach and there is no grace period – 1 October 2015 is it.