Landlord Duties With No Tenant: What Applies Now and What Starts When Someone Moves In

Most landlord checklists are written as if every property always has a tenant. Yours may not: it is between lets, you have just bought it, or you are getting it ready. That changes which rules apply to you today — and it is easy to read a checklist and conclude you are either in breach of everything or of nothing.

The short version: some duties are about having a safe, lettable property and must be met by the day a tenancy starts. Others only exist once there is a tenancy — they attach to the tenancy, not to the building. This page sets out which is which, for privately rented homes in England. Correct as at 19 October 2026.

What has to be valid on the day a tenancy starts

These are framed around letting the property. While it is empty there is no tenant to protect, but each of them has to be in place — and in date — on the first day of the next tenancy, so the dates still matter now.

• Gas safety check. Every gas appliance and flue must have been checked by a Gas Safe engineer within the 12 months before a new lease begins, and every 12 months after that (Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, regulation 36(3)). No gas at the property means none of this applies.
• Electrical inspection (EICR). The electrical installation must be inspected and tested by a qualified person before the tenancy commences, and then at least every five years — or sooner if the last report says so (Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, regulation 3(1)–(2)).
• Energy Performance Certificate. You must make a valid EPC available free of charge to anyone who asks about renting the property, and give one to the person who becomes the tenant (Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012, regulation 6). An EPC is valid for this if it was registered no more than ten years before you show it. The property must be rated E or better, unless an exemption is registered (Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) Regulations 2015, regulations 22–23).
• Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. While the property is occupied under a tenancy there must be a smoke alarm on every storey with living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any such room with a fixed combustion appliance other than a gas cooker — whatever the fuel (Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015, regulation 4(1)). In practice that means fitted before the first day.

What only starts with a tenancy

None of these can apply to an empty property, because each one is owed to a tenant, about a tenancy. They start the moment you agree a let — some before the tenant moves in.

• Right to Rent. You must not authorise an adult to live in the property if they are disqualified by their immigration status (Immigration Act 2014, section 22). The check is done before the tenancy starts.
• Written statement of terms. For a tenancy entered into on or after 1 May 2026, you must give the tenant a written statement of the prescribed terms before the tenancy is entered into (Housing Act 1988, section 16D(4)).
• No rent in advance. No rent may be taken before the tenancy is agreed, and rent cannot fall due ahead of the period it pays for — except the first rent, which can fall due between signing and the start date (Housing Act 1988, section 4B; Tenant Fees Act 2019, Schedule 1 paragraph 1(1A)).
• Deposit. If you take one, it can be no more than five weeks' rent — six if the annual rent is £50,000 or more (Tenant Fees Act 2019, Schedule 1 paragraph 2(3)). It must be protected in an authorised scheme, and the prescribed information given to the tenant, within 30 days beginning with the day you receive it — not the day the tenancy starts (Housing Act 2004, section 213(3) and (6)).
• Copies of the certificates. A new tenant must be given the latest gas safety record and the EICR before they move in (gas regulation 36(6)(b); electrical regulation 3(3)(e)(i)), and the EPC (EPC regulation 6(5)).
• The alarm check. On the day a new tenancy begins, each alarm must be checked to be in working order (regulation 4(1)(b)).
• Your address for service. You must give the tenant, by notice, an address in England or Wales where they can serve notices on you — and until you do, rent is treated as not being due (Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, section 48).

Why the order matters

The duties that start with a tenancy are the ones with the sharpest consequences, and several of them run on a clock that starts before or on day one: the written statement before the tenancy is entered into, the certificate copies before the tenant moves in, the deposit within 30 days of receiving it. They are also the ones a landlord with an empty property cannot do in advance, because there is no tenant to give them to yet.

So the useful thing to do while the property is empty is to make sure the first group is in date for the day you let it — and to have a reminder set for the day a tenant is due to move in, so the second group does not arrive as a surprise.

The free LetSorted Compliance Tracker does both: it keeps the gas, electrical and energy dates and emails you before each runs out, and you can give it the expected move-in date for an empty property so it reminds you that morning.

For the full list of duties, including the ones that apply during and at the end of a tenancy, see the landlord compliance checklist.

Correct as at 19 October 2026. This explains what the law requires of private landlords in England; it is not legal advice about your situation.