Tenants know very little about their rights and responsibilities as renters according to a new survey produced by TotallyMoney.

Some 97 per cent do not know their full rights as renters, while 50 per cent don’t know if their landlord could change their rent without notifying them, and 38 per cent don’t know when the landlord is allowed to enter the property.

The website, which has now produced a booklet of tenants’ rights and responsibilities, says some landlords are also ill-informed as to their roles. 

It says the most searched terms and the questions landlords are regularly asking online, to find out vital information, including:

– how long does a landlord have to return a deposit? 

– who pays council tax, the tenant or the landlord? 

– and what does landlord insurance cover? 

“Whether you’re a tenant or a landlord, knowing your rights and keeping an eye out for warning signs means you’re well prepared in the event of an issue or a dispute. We created this study in order to make sure readers had access to clear answers – it can often be tricky to find out the exact information on a problem while renting” explains Mark Molony, head of brand and communications at TotallyMoney.