The five questions a UK landlord asks before booking a compliance audit.

An Energy Performance Certificate is required before marketing a let, and a missing EPC blocks a valid pre-tenancy notice under the post-1 May 2026 regime. Civil penalties run £200–£5,000 per let for a domestic landlord and escalate for repeat breaches, so a 10-year lapse on a single property is rarely the only cost — it is the audit trail that has gone quiet.

Furlmark files: an up-to-date EPC (renewed at the 10-year mark or sooner on request).

Existing ASTs convert into periodic tenancies and landlords rely on the new Section 5 (Renters’ Rights compliant) grounds to recover possession. The Mandatory Grounds band still applies — arrears, anti-social behaviour, landlord sale, the new landlord-move-in grounds — and the Renters’ Rights timetable is fixed so the paperwork must be ready before a notice is served.

Furlmark files: the new Section 5 / Renters’ Rights compliant eviction packet your solicitor needs.

A per-occupier civil penalty up to £80 per occupier for a first breach, scaling to criminal exposure for repeat or wilful cases — and a clean Home Office audit trail is required for every new occupier plus scheduled follow-ups on a time-limited visa. The fine is rarely the headline cost; the loss of the right to evict is.

Furlmark files: the Right to Rent ID record plus the follow-up cadence for every new occupier.

All three are statutory custodial and insured schemes — there is no “right one”, only the right fit per let — and landlords may choose per tenancy subject to scheme rules on tenancy type, renewal and the prescribed information served inside 30 days. Dispute resolution timing and the fees differ across schemes, so the choice is operational as much as regulatory.

Furlmark files: deposit protection registration on the scheme that fits the let, with the prescribed information served inside 30 days.

A CP12 must be issued before each new tenancy and then annually, with a copy provided to each existing tenant within 12 months of the last inspection. A missed annual inspection breaches the Regulations and is a HMO-licensing red flag — the record has to be audit-defensible, not just on file.

Furlmark files: the annual CP12 plus the per-let gas-safety certificate archive.