The need for letting agencies to assist landlords with the increasingly-complicated private rental sector has been hammered home by the results of a survey of almost 4,000 buy to let investors.

The Landlord Knowledge Survey, by online letting agency Urban, reveals that:

– around 20 per cent of landlords are unaware of existing EPC regulations, and 17 per cent were unaware of the MEES changes set to come in to effect from next year;

– 70 per cent of landlords are not aware of all procedures involved in the Right To Rent regulations which came into effect a year ago;

– only 34 per cent of landlords adequately test the smoke and CO2 alarms in their rental properties;

– 38 per cent did not know that a tenant could refuse them access to the rental property even with 24 hours’ notice;

– substantial numbers were unaware of the repurcussions of failing to join selective or other local authority licensing schemes that exist in many areas;

90 per cent of landlords made errors when questioned on their responsibilities over tenancy agreements;

– around a third of landlords showed confusion over gas safety requirements;

– only 50 per cent of landlords appeared aware of the potential tax consequences of April’s start to the phased reduction of mortgage interest tax relief.

“One reason to explain the lack of industry knowledge could be due to the recent influx in new regulations, which have flooded the rental market” explains Adam Male, co-founder of Urban.