I am about to start an AST with Openrent.
I uploaded my EICR, Gas safety, EPC, Pat test certs and for some unknown reason my building insurance certificate.
I asked Openrent about serving all documents but the reply wasn’t very clear saying I would need to issue EPC, gas safety, Pat testing and EICR myself and upload it to the Openrent documents.
I have uploaded all the documents to Openrent, now and Openrent set up the AST and are getting the deposit. So I have emailed my tenants those certs and requested a reply saying they have received the above documents.
Why would Openrent deal with half the tenancy documents and leave me to issue the other documents. This doesn’t sound correct.
Surely they should issue everything or nothing at all.
I assumed that the tenancy set up would be dealt with on Openrent or have I misunderstood the Openrent process.
Is this what everyone else has to do or is uploading those certificates on Openrent tenancy documents enough to be compliant for proof of issued documents should a tenant need to be evicted and proof of certificates and documents issued are required?
I feel as though I should have given it to a letting agent to be compliant.
I really am confused
If you are uploading documents to Openrent using the “Manage Documents” section of a tenancy, then you can see a toggle that shows whether or not each document has been shared with the tenants. There is also an automated email that goes out shortly after any upload to both tenants and landlord to confirm what document was uploaded. So you can pretty easily see what documents you have uploaded and made available. If in doubt, you can also simply email these across to the tenants. Openrent is just a portal, so while they facilitate legal compliance with regards to documentation, it is not their role / responsibility. Giving this to a letting agent tomanage is also no guarantee of compliance. I’ve had a high street letting agent fail to do the bare minimum Right to Rent checks so I wouldn’t trust them either.
Thanks Mita
I see the toggle for the shared documents for EPC etc certs. If I ever needed to evict in the future would the mange tenancy documents section toggles be classed as suitable issue of documentation or would the judge throw out the case and I would have to re issue documents again.
I really do appreciate the information you have given me
I usually just use either the Openrent upload method or directly email documents to tenants at the start of each tenancy, which I assumed would be sufficient but I’m sure other landlords on here may be able to provide input in terms of other ways to evidence that tenants have received the relevant documentation. Maybe proof of postage / recorded delivery of printed docs from Post Office? You could also ask the tenants to reply via email to confirm receipt of documents.