Five Compliance Risks Property Firms Overlook

Most landlords and letting agents have gas safety and EPC ratings well covered. They're the obligations everyone talks about, so they rarely get missed. The trouble usually starts with the duties that don't come with an annual reminder.

Some of these carry heavier penalties than you'd expect, so let's take a closer look at where property firms tend to slip up.

Awaab's Law took effect for social landlords on 27 October 2025, setting fixed timescales for damp and mould. Once a landlord knows about a potential hazard, the clock starts:

• Investigate within 10 working days

• Send the tenant a written summary within 3 working days of concluding the investigation

• Carry out relevant safety work within 5 working days if a significant hazard is identified

• Begin any supplementary preventative work within 5 working days, or start on site as soon as reasonably practicable and no later than 12 weeks

Right now these duties sit with social housing, but the government has confirmed it'll consult on bringing the same rules into the private rented sector. It's worth treating them as a preview instead of someone else's problem.

The catch is proof. Wiping mould off a wall means little if you can't show what caused it, what you did and when. That's the sort of evidence trail a specialist builds for you. ICE Cleaning specialist cleaning services, for instance, include Dewpoint-certified remediation with full documentation of the work, exactly the kind of record you'd want in front of a council or tribunal.

If a property was built or refurbished before 2000, it can still contain asbestos, and the duty to manage it falls on whoever controls the premises. For a lot of older blocks and conversions, that's the managing agent or freeholder responsible for the common parts. You need a record of where any asbestos is, what condition it's in and a plan to keep it safe.

The part people forget is the review. HSE guidance is clear that the asbestos management plan should be reviewed at least every 12 months, or sooner if the material's condition changes, work is done, or refurbishment or demolition is planned.

Any rented home with a water system carries a legionella risk, and landlords have a duty to assess and control it. For most properties this is a simple assessment instead of a costly survey, but it still needs doing, and repeating when things change.

Empty properties are the usual trap. Water sitting in the pipes of a void flat is exactly where legionella bacteria multiply, so a home between tenancies still needs managing.

In blocks above 11 metres, the responsible person must check communal fire doors every quarter and flat entrance doors once a year on a best endeavours basis. A fire door only works if it's the right door, fitted properly, with the correct gaps, seals and a working self-closer.

Small changes cause most of the failures. A tenant swaps the closer, fits a cat flap or wedges a door open, and the whole thing stops doing its job. Regular checks catch that before it turns into a problem.

The Decent Homes Standard has applied to social housing for years, and the Renters' Rights Act 2025 extends it to private rentals. It sets a baseline for the condition of a home, covering disrepair, reasonable facilities and freedom from serious hazards.

The government has confirmed the new standard will apply to the PRS from 2035, which sounds far off but covers a lot of stock that isn't decent today. Firms that tighten up their records and repairs now will have far less to sort out as the deadline gets closer.

Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, councils can issue civil penalties of up to £7,000 for a first or minor breach and up to £40,000 for serious, continuing or repeated breaches, with tenants also able to reclaim up to 24 months' rent through a rent repayment order. Those numbers apply to the quiet obligations as much as the headline ones.

The thread running through all five is records. Acting quickly matters, but you also have to prove you acted, with dates, reports and evidence to back it up. Get your documentation in order across the portfolio and most of these risks stop being risks at all.