At the start of your Tenancy
How to Rent: the checklist for renting in England - This guide should be read at the start of your tenancy as it contains all the crucial information with regards to your rights and responsibilities.
Gas Safety Certificate: The Landlord must provide this at the start of your tenancy and must be done by a registered Gas Safe Engineer. You should have a smoke alarm installed on every storey of your property. During the sign up of your AST, smoke alarms should be tested. After that you as the tenant, are in charge of maintaining the smoke alarms.
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) - This is a certificate that shows how energy efficient a property is and how your bills will be affected. You have to make sure that the EPC rating is a minimum of 'E', anything lower than this means the property can't be rented out.
Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) - From 1st April 2021 all new and existing tenancies will require an EICR. For more information please read the governments guidance for tenants.
Deposit paperwork: If you have given a deposit, your Landlord must protect it in a government approved protection scheme. Your Landlord must provide official information and make sure you understand how to get your money back at the end of the tenancy. Please keep this information safe as you will need it later.
If your tenancy started or was renewed after 1 October 2015, your Landlord cannot evict you with a Section 21 Notice if they have not provided you with these documents.