The London Landlord's Compliance Calendar

Most landlord compliance failures are not deliberate, they are calendar failures. A gas safety certificate that expired three weeks ago because nobody entered the renewal date into a diary. An EICR that ran its full five years unnoticed because it felt far away when it was issued. A deposit registration certificate misfiled and never re-sent to the tenant after a renewal. The penalty for these lapses can be catastrophic, civil penalties up to £40,000, voided insurance, blocked possession claims, and the fix is mundane: a calendar.

This is that calendar. Print it, pin it to a wall, or copy it into your phone. Every London landlord should have one.

Annual items, fixed to the tenancy anniversary

Gas Safety Certificate (CP12)

Renewed annually if the property has any gas appliance. The new certificate must be issued before the old one expires, and must be provided to the tenant within 28 days of issue. Cost: £90-£140 for a standard two-bedroom flat. A full guide to gas safety certificates is available here.

Calendar entry: set a reminder six weeks before expiry. Book the Gas Safe engineer five weeks out, comfortably inside the gas safety grace period, so the renewal keeps your original expiry date. Serve the certificate on the tenant within a week of receiving it.

Landlord buildings insurance

Annual renewal. Read the small print on the policy: many landlord insurance providers require valid compliance certificates (gas, EICR, EPC) as a pre-condition of cover. Letting a compliance certificate expire can invalidate the insurance retroactively, which is the worst kind of compounded risk.

Calendar entry: renewal diary date set for 30 days before policy expiry. Update with latest valuation if building has been renovated.

Tenancy anniversary review (if rolling into Year 2+)

Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, tenancies are periodic with rent reviews limited to once per year, by Section 13 notice. The anniversary is the natural review point. If you intend to increase rent, serve Section 13 a clear two months before the proposed increase takes effect.

Calendar entry: three months before tenancy anniversary. Research current market rents for the property in the current state. Draft the Section 13 with the evidence pack attached.

Biennial, five-yearly and longer items

EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report)

Renewed every five years, or sooner if the previous report specified a shorter review interval. The EICR inspection must be carried out by a NAPIT or NICEIC registered electrician. Typical cost: £180-£280 for a two-bedroom flat. Any "unsatisfactory" findings must be remediated before the report can be considered passed, failure to remediate within 28 days is itself a civil offence.

Calendar entry: six months before expiry. The six-month lead time is important because unsatisfactory findings are common on older London stock, and remediation often requires a tenant-free window to carry out.

EPC (Energy Performance Certificate)

Valid for ten years. Minimum rating required for letting is currently E, rising to C under the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) from 1 October 2030. A full EPC guide is here. Cost: £60-£110 for a new assessment.

Calendar entry: a year before the ten-year expiry. Start planning any efficiency upgrades needed to hit C before MEES bites.

Deposit scheme registration renewal

Deposits must be registered within 30 days of receipt, and the tenant must be served with prescribed information within the same window. The scheme registration does not automatically renew, if the tenancy continues beyond the original term, check the deposit remains correctly registered. Cost: usually zero with custodial schemes; small annual fees with insurance-backed schemes.

HMO licence (where applicable)

Where a property is a licensable house in multiple occupation, the licence runs for up to five years and must be renewed before it expires. Whether you need one depends on the borough and the property, as our guide to HMO licensing London explains. Calendar entry: six months before the licence expiry.

New and ongoing, the Renters' Rights Act 2025 items

National property portal, update on any material change

Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, every rental property must be registered on the national portal. Registration itself is one-time; but updates are ongoing: the portal must be updated whenever safety certificates are renewed, the tenancy changes, or the landlord's contact details change.

Calendar entry: add a "portal update" reminder each time any certificate is renewed. Add a quarterly reminder to log in and confirm the property record is current.

PRS Ombudsman membership

Membership is mandatory and ongoing. The annual subscription is due on the anniversary of joining. Lapsed membership is itself a criminal offence.

Calendar entry: annual renewal diary, set a month before due date.

The mid-tenancy items

Mid-term inspection

Not legally required but strongly recommended at around the six-month mark of a new tenancy. An AIIC-accredited mid-term inspection documents the property's condition, flags any emerging issues, and creates a contemporaneous record that is invaluable if any end-of-tenancy dispute later reaches the deposit scheme.

Calendar entry: six months after check-in. Schedule a two-hour window with the tenant.

Quarterly safety walk-through

Particularly for unfurnished properties where the tenant has discretion to add appliances, fixtures, or make cosmetic changes. Check smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are working, any alterations have been approved, and the condition is broadly as expected.

Calendar entry: every 3 months. 30-minute visit, preferably combined with any routine maintenance.

Smoke and carbon monoxide alarm testing

Landlords must ensure functioning smoke alarms on every storey and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a solid-fuel appliance. Check-in day test is mandatory; ongoing responsibility is the tenant's, but prudent landlords check again at each inspection.

Seasonal items, London-specific

September, pre-winter boiler service

The annual gas safety certificate doesn't cover boiler servicing unless explicitly scoped. A separate boiler service in early autumn, before the heating season, reduces the chance of mid-winter breakdowns and the associated tenant relationship damage.

Calendar entry: first week of September. £80-£120 for a standard boiler service.

October, gutter and external check

London's wet autumn/winter combined with blocked gutters is the single most common cause of damp-related disrepair claims under the Ombudsman. A quick gutter inspection and clear in October prevents a problem that becomes much larger by February.

January, first-week check-in after holiday period

Frozen or burst pipes in properties left empty over Christmas are an avoidable crisis. A scheduled check in the first week of January on any property that has been vacant catches problems before they escalate.

Event-driven items

These don't fit a calendar. They're triggered by specific events.

End of tenancy, the full checklist

• Section 8 notice served on correct ground (if landlord-initiated) or tenant two-month notice received
• Check-out inventory scheduled on or before the tenancy end date
• Deposit return process initiated within statutory time window
• Final utility readings recorded
• End-of-tenancy clean and inventory booked
• Property portal updated to reflect tenancy end
• Re-listing prepared if new tenancy planned

New tenancy, the full checklist

• Right-to-rent checks performed and documented
• Full referencing completed (employment, credit, landlord, ID)
• AST drafted and signed; prescribed information served
• Deposit registered within 30 days and prescribed information served
• How to Rent guide served
• Valid gas safety certificate served on tenant
• Valid EICR served on tenant
• Valid EPC served on tenant
• Smoke and CO alarm tested on check-in day
• Check-in inventory completed with tenant present and signed
• Property portal updated with new tenancy

Every one of these items can prevent a future dispute. Skipping any one of them creates a vulnerability that will surface later.

How we handle this for managed clients

Every property under AIHPG full property management is maintained on an internal compliance calendar. Certificate renewal dates, anniversary reviews, quarterly walk-throughs, and seasonal items are all tracked against the property record. When a certificate is within 30 days of expiry, our in-house engineers are booked automatically. When an anniversary approaches, the account manager schedules the conversation about rent review. When the portal needs updating, it's updated.

This is the single biggest reason managed properties rarely fail Ombudsman complaints or have Section 8 claims blocked: the paperwork is on file, the certificates are current, and the record shows the landlord acting reasonably throughout.

Download and print

A one-page printable version of this compliance calendar, laid out as a single sheet you can pin to a wall or file with each property, is available on request. Call us on 020 3488 8072 or request a copy and we'll email you the PDF. No obligation, no sales follow-up.

Compliance is not the most exciting part of being a London landlord. But it is the part that, handled well, lets everything else work, and handled badly, unravels everything else. A single calendar on a single wall is enough to stay ahead of it.

Frequently asked questions about landlord compliance deadlines

Do I need to set a reminder for every certificate?

Yes, because the penalty for letting a certificate expire ranges from voided insurance (self-inflicted) to a civil penalty of up to £40,000 (from local authority enforcement) to an inability to serve a valid Section 8 notice (from a compliance failure undermining a possession claim). A single calendar covering EICR (5-year), gas safety (1-year), EPC (10-year), deposit scheme renewals, and portal updates is the minimum setup.

What happens if a certificate expires mid-tenancy?

Legally, the certificate should be renewed before expiry. If it expires during the tenancy, the landlord is in breach: not automatically prosecuted, but exposed to Section 8 grounds being blocked, Ombudsman complaints being easier to win, and insurance cover being voidable. Renewing the moment the new certificate is issued (not waiting for the tenant to notice) is the right posture.

Do the same compliance rules apply to short-term lets?

Largely yes, plus some additional rules. Short-term lets still need valid gas safety, EICR, and deposit registration where a deposit is taken. London's 90-night rule applies to entire-property lets. HMO licensing may apply depending on the borough. Short lets are more regulated than many platform-letting landlords realise.