For landlords
Two ways to let your property to us, and a straight account of which legal duties transfer when somebody else takes the lease. Most of them do not, and any company that tells you otherwise is selling you something.
One property or a portfolio · ICO and PRS registered · Three to five year agreements
Acting for a landlord rather than owning the property? There is a separate route for agents.
Two ways to work with us
Both are long-term and both are fully managed. The difference is who carries the risk and who keeps the upside, and it is worth getting right before you sign either one.
Neither is better. Landlords at a distance from the property, or who have had a bad year, almost always choose the fixed floor. Landlords who watch the market closely and can absorb a void usually choose the ceiling.
The part nobody explains
What the law asks of you, and who actually does it
Handing over the lease does not hand over the law. Most safety and licensing duties sit with the owner of the property and stay there, whoever is managing it. What changes is that somebody competent is keeping the diary.
Energy Performance Certificate
In lawYou, as the owner
We doWe check it is valid and in band E or above before we take the property on, and tell you when it is close to expiring.
Annual gas safety check
In lawYou, as the owner
We doWe diary the date, arrange access and the engineer, and send you the certificate.
Electrical installation report, at least every five years
In lawYou, as the owner
We doSame: we arrange it and send you the report. Remedial work is quoted to you before anything is instructed.
Smoke alarms on every storey, carbon monoxide alarms by every fixed combustion appliance
In lawYou, as the owner
We doWe check them at every inspection and replace them when they fail.
Keeping the property fit for human habitation
In lawYou, as the owner
We doWe inspect at intervals and report back, so a defect reaches you with a photograph rather than a letter.
HMO or selective licence, where the borough requires one
In lawYou, as the owner
We doWe check what applies at the address and make the application, which is the item most landlords are unaware of.
Right to Rent checks on the people living there
In lawWhoever grants the occupation agreement
We doOurs. We hold the lease and we place the family, so the checks and the records are ours to keep.
Protecting a tenancy deposit
In lawWhoever takes a deposit
We doDoes not arise. We do not take a deposit from you and you do not take one from anybody.
Buildings insurance, and telling the insurer the property is let
In lawYou, as the owner
We doWe will ask to see it before we start. An unreported change of use can void a claim entirely.
Consent to let from your mortgage lender
In lawYou, as the owner
We doAsk specifically about a company let, not just about letting. This is what delays most starts.
This is a summary, not legal advice, and it is written for England. Where a duty is yours we will tell you so plainly rather than let you assume we have it.
Changed on 1 May 2026
Where the Renters' Rights Act leaves you
The biggest change to letting in a generation, and the reason a number of landlords moved to a company let this year.
The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. From 1 May 2026, section 21 “no fault” notices are gone and fixed-term assured tenancies have been replaced by periodic ones, for existing lettings as well as new ones. If you let to a family directly, you can no longer end the tenancy simply because the term has run out.
A company let sits outside that regime, and always has. An assured tenancy requires the tenant to be an individual occupying the property as their only or principal home, under section 1 of the Housing Act 1988. VividSpaces is a company and does not live there, so our agreement with you is a contractual lease governed by its own terms rather than by the assured regime the Act reformed.
That is a real difference and it is worth understanding properly. It is not a way around anybody’s rights: the family living in the property holds their agreement with us, and the responsibility for them is ours. What it means for you is that your position is set by the lease you sign with us, and we go through the notice provisions in it with you line by line before you sign rather than leaving you to find them later.
Sources
- Guide to the Renters’ Rights Act, GOV.UK. Royal Assent 27 October 2025.
- Implementation roadmap, GOV.UK. Section 21 abolished and tenancies converted to periodic from 1 May 2026.
- Housing Act 1988, section 1. An assured tenancy requires an individual tenant occupying as their only or principal home.
Checked 21 September 2026. We are not solicitors. If your position is unusual, take your own advice and we will give your adviser whatever detail about the agreement they need.
Spreading, borough by borough
Licensing is the thing most landlords miss
Mandatory HMO licensing has applied across England for years to any property with five or more people from more than one household. What has changed is that boroughs are now licensing ordinary single-family lets.
Enfield has licensed 17 wards since 1 September 2026. Croydon began licensing 14 named wards on 25 September 2026. These schemes catch normal family lets, not shared houses, which is exactly why owners in those wards tend not to know about them. Letting an unlicensed property where a licence is required is an offence, and it can also block a possession claim.
We check licensing at the address before we take a property on, and where a licence is needed we make the application. Our area pages set out what applies locally, with the borough’s own page as the source and the date it was checked.
What you can hold us to
- A fixed date, not a fixed intention
- The rent leaves us on the same date every month for the length of the agreement. It does not move because the property is empty, because a repair was expensive, or because somebody has not paid us.
- You hear it from us first
- Inspection reports, damage, a family leaving, a licensing change at the address. We would rather tell you about a problem while it is small than be asked about it once it is not.
- Nothing spent without your say
- Under management, no work is instructed before you have seen the quote, and every cost on your statement arrives with the invoice behind it. Under guaranteed rent, day-to-day repairs are simply ours.
- The property comes back as it went out
- We photograph and schedule it in detail before we start, and inspect against that schedule at the end. Anything beyond fair wear and tear is made good before it returns to you.
From first call to first payment
Typically five to ten working days once the paperwork is in hand. The step that decides the timetable is almost always your lender, so start it early.
- 01We visit the property, look at it properly, and check what licensing applies at the address.
- 02You get a fixed figure and a draft agreement in writing. No cost, no obligation, and it stands whether or not you sign.
- 03You confirm your lender's consent to let and that your insurer knows the property is let. This is usually the long pole.
- 04We prepare the property, including light works and furniture where they are needed, and photograph and schedule it.
- 05The agreement starts, the first payment is made on the agreed date, and then on the same date every month.
Find out what your property would earn
Tell us the address. We look at the property and come back with a fixed monthly figure and the term we can offer on it, in writing, at no cost.
Before you call
You will not find landlord reviews on this site. We would rather show you nothing than show you something we invented. Ask us on the call and we will put you on the phone with a landlord we already work with, so you can ask them instead.
VividSpaces Ltd · ICO ZB892725 · Property Redress PRS051867