The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has released a new version of the Landlord Certificate that must be used moving forwards.
The form exists so that landlords can pass on any historical safety remediation costs to leaseholders in a relevant building for the purposes of the Building Safety Act 2022.
The DLUHC’s explanation for leaseholders regarding how and when a Landlord’s Certificate is relevant is as follows:
Landlord’s certificate
- Your current landlord must provide you with a , in any of the following instances:a. when they want to pass on part of the cost of remediation onto you, as leaseholder, through the service chargeb. within 4 weeks of receiving a notification from you that your leasehold interest is to be sold
c. within 4 weeks of them becoming aware of a relevant defect which was not covered by a previous landlord’s certificate
d. within 4 weeks of you requesting a landlord’s certificate
e. within 4 weeks of becoming aware of a new leaseholder deed of certificate which contained information that was not included in a previous landlord’s certificate
- Your current landlord must provide the RMC, RTM or named manager with a copy of the landlord’s certificate and leaseholder deed of certificate within one week of completion or receipt.
- The landlord’s certificate demonstrates:a. whether the landlord under the lease on 14 February 2022, or their landlord group, meet the contribution condition (where you are a qualifying leaseholder)b. whether the landlord under the lease on 14 February 2022 or any superior landlord at the time was associated with the developer of the building (a superior landlord is a landlord who owns the interest in the property which gives them the right of possession at the end of another landlord’s lease)
- A landlord’s certificate must meet all of the following conditions – it must:a. be signed by the person who is the current landlord on the date the certificate is signedb. be based on the circumstances of whoever was the relevant landlord on 14 February 2022
c. be in the form of the landlord’s certificate template (as found in The Building Safety (Leaseholder Protections etc.) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 )
d. contain the relevant information and be accompanied by the specified evidence, as outlined in the Leaseholder protections amendments guidance.
- If your current landlord is unable to provide any of the information required for the landlord’s certificate, they must contact other people who may be able to provide such information. They can request that these people provide this information within three weeks of having been asked.
- If your current landlord does not provide a valid landlord’s certificate which complies with the requirements outlined in paragraph 18 (above), they will be unable to pass costs for remediation onto you.
- Landlords are required to provide evidence to back up their claims if they believe themselves to be exempt from the full costs of remediation of historical safety defects. Failure to disclose information or dishonestly making a false claim may be a criminal offence under the Fraud Act 2006, and their director, manager or secretary may also be held criminally liable.
