What the law actually needs
The full list of duties Abodient tracks, and why yours differs from another landlord's.
Every landlord's legal duties are different, because the law keys off the property, not the person. The list Abodient tracks is built from a handful of facts about each home.
What the law asks of almost everyone
Some duties apply to nearly every let in England, whatever the property. That core is an electrical safety report, an energy certificate, working smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms, a Legionella risk assessment, a Right to Rent check, and protecting the deposit.
These are on your list unless the property says otherwise.
The Know your duties panel on the Compliance page shows the headline duties for your nation, each linking to the government's own guidance. It swaps by country — Rent Smart Wales for a Welsh property, landlord registration for a Scottish one.
What decides the rest
The other duties turn on four things, all answered on the property itself, under Property Details → Compliance triggers:
- Which country the property is in. Nothing is tracked until this is set, and Northern Ireland is not covered yet.
- Whether it is a house, a flat, or let by the room. A room-let is asked to protect a deposit for each room's tenancy.
- Whether it is an HMO, which adds a licence, and often a fire-risk assessment and appliance testing.
- Direct answers — is there a gas appliance, was it built before 2000, is it furnished, is your area licensed.
Answer these honestly and the list is right; guess, and it is not.
Why this duty, on this property
Every duty on a property's Compliance tab has an ⓘ. It tells you two things: what the duty is, and why it applies here.
It names the answer that triggered it — "because you told us it has a gas appliance", say.
Thirty of the duties we track are conditional like this, so the ⓘ is how you check the list is yours and not a generic one.
Where the rules come from
At the foot of the Compliance page, Where these rules come from lists every duty against the law it rests on. Each links to the current version on legislation.gov.uk, with the date we last checked it.
If your list looks wrong
- A duty you did not expect? Read its ⓘ — it names the answer that added it. Change that answer on the property and the duty follows.
- A duty you expected but do not see? Check the country and property-type answers first; a blank country tracks nothing at all.