The Welsh Government are reporting a surge in applications for the Rent Smart Wales scheme following news last week from the RLA that, with seven weeks to go, only 10% of landlords had registered and just 3% had obtained licences.

If you are a landlord of a property in Wales, the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 makes it mandatory for you to be registered with Rent Smart Wales. 

If you are managing the property yourself, or if you manage a property on behalf of someone else, you also need to go through training and obtain a licence. The training can be undertaken at a scheduled course, or can be completed online. The deadline is 23^rd November 2015, and with Rent Smart advising that there is an eight week delay in processing licence applications, it would be best not to delay starting your training. 

The penalties for non-compliance can include fines and rent stoppages, as well as loss of the right to evict. 

McCartan Lettings have been told by the Rent Smart Wales team that they are currently recruiting enforcement officers, and with all agents required by law to send a list of the landlords they have dealt with in that financial year to the HMRC, finding non-compliant landlords is by no means impossible. 

If you are uncertain whether/how legislation applies to you, or to start your application now, you can visit https://www.rentsmart.gov.wales, or give the team at McCartan Lettings a call on 01792 430100. 

Sources: http://news.rla.org.uk/just-3-landlords-rent-smart-wales-licences/, https://news.rla.org.uk/government-reports-surge-rent-smart-wales-applications/