🚨 New Rules for Landlords & Tenants – What You Need to Know from May 14th 🚨
From May 14th 2025, new government regulations will affect every letting agent in the UK – including us here in the Cotswolds. These changes are all about sanctions checks, and it’s important that both landlords and tenants understand what’s happening and why.
🏡What are sanctions, and why do they matter? Sanctions are government rules that stop people or companies with links to serious crime, terrorism, or international threats from accessing money or property in the UK.
There’s an official list of those affected – and from May 14th, letting agents must check that none of our landlords or tenants are on it.
🏡 What’s changing for letting agents? From that date, all letting agents will become legally responsible for:
- Checking every new landlord and tenant against the UK Sanctions List.
- Reporting any matches or suspicions to the government’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI).
- Keeping proper records to prove we’ve done the checks.
Letting agents can face large fines or even criminal charges if they don’t comply — so this is serious business.
👀 Who needs to be checked? We’ll be checking:
- Every tenant and landlord (yes, even joint ones)
- Company landlords and their directors
- Guarantors
- Sometimes even permitted occupiers if there’s a financial or legal connection
These checks are part of our legal duties – and they won’t affect your credit score or be visible to others.
📆 When do checks happen?
- Landlords: We’ll check you when we first start working together.
- Tenants: We’ll check you after your offer is accepted, but before you sign the tenancy agreement.
If the move-in date is delayed, we may need to recheck – as the sanctions list can change daily.
❗ What if there’s a match? If someone shows up as a possible match, we’ll report it immediately to OFSI and pause the process until we receive guidance. We won’t be able to move forward with a tenancy or accept rent until the government gives us the green light.
đź’ľ What about current tenants or renewed agreements? These new rules only apply to new tenants and landlords from May 14th onwards.
However, we may still carry out checks on existing tenants and landlords just to stay on the safe side.
✅ What do landlords and tenants need to do? Nothing extra – just be aware these checks are now part of our standard referencing and onboarding process.
There’s no need to worry unless you’re on the sanctions list (which most people aren’t!).
We’re here to help At Perry Bishop we’re already updating our processes to make this as smooth and stress-free as possible. We work with trusted referencing platforms to carry out these checks efficiently and securely.
Have questions? Want to understand more? Just get in touch with our friendly team – we’ll be happy to walk you through it.
From May 14th, it’s all about keeping the property market safe, secure, and compliant – and we’ve got you covered.