Pre-Letting Inspection Checklist for Wales Landlords

The worst time to discover your property is unfit for human habitation is after a contract-holder has moved in and your rent liability is already running. Under Section 91 of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, the dwelling must be fit at the commencement of the occupation contract — not after you have had a chance to fix things. A structured pre-letting inspection is how you prove it was.

What Pre-Letting Means Under Welsh Law

Section 91 creates an obligation for the property to be fit for human habitation on day one. Unlike the repair duty under Section 92, the fitness duty applies whether or not anyone has complained. A Category 1 HHSRS hazard is a separate assessment and does not by itself decide whether the dwelling breaches Section 91; the court assesses the property's condition and circumstances.

This means your inspection happens before the occupation date, not during the first week. Everything that needs fixing gets fixed before keys are handed over.

The Inspection Sequence

A practical pre-letting inspection follows the same sequence as the 29 statutory matters prescribed by the Renting Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) (Wales) Regulations 2022, grouped into five workable categories.

Safety Certificates (Commission First)

These take the longest to arrange, so book them as soon as you know the property will be let:

• EICR — must be in date (valid for up to 5 years, or shorter if the electrician specifies). If the report shows C1, C2, or FI codes, remedial work must be completed and confirmed before letting.
• Gas safety record (CP12) — must be current (annual). Must be served to the new contract-holder before occupation.
• EPC — must be Band E or above (or a registered PRS exemption). Must be served before occupation.

Alarm Systems

Wales requires hardwired, interlinked smoke alarms on every storey of the dwelling that contains a habitable room, hallway, or landing. Battery-only alarms do not comply. Check that:

• Every storey has a hardwired smoke alarm
• All smoke alarms are interlinked (triggering one triggers all)
• Every room with a gas, oil, or solid-fuel appliance has a carbon monoxide alarm (CO alarms can be sealed-battery units — they do not need to be hardwired)
• All alarms are tested and functioning

Room-by-Room Walkthrough

Walk every room against the 29 hazard categories. The common pre-letting failures:

Damp and mould — check behind furniture, under windowsills, around bath sealant, in corners of external walls. Surface moisture above 20% WME needs investigation, not just a coat of anti-mould paint.

Excess cold — is the heating system adequate for the size of the property? Do all radiators work? Is there loft insulation?

Electrical hazards — beyond the EICR, check for cracked sockets, exposed wiring to pendant lights, and any tenant modifications from the previous occupancy.

Fire escape — can the occupant reach a final exit door from every bedroom without passing through a high-risk room? Are there window restrictors on upper floors where required?

Falls — loose carpet, uneven flooring, missing handrails on stairs, low window sills without restrictors.

Water and sanitation — hot and cold water to kitchen and bathroom, functional WC with intact flush, unbroken drainage, no leaking traps.

Security — all external doors have functioning locks, ground-floor windows have operating locks, there is adequate external lighting at the entrance.

Document Preparation

Before the contract-holder moves in, you must have ready to serve:

1. Written statement of the occupation contract
2. Current EICR
3. Current CP12 (gas safety record)
4. Valid EPC
5. Deposit prescribed information (if a deposit is taken)
6. Landlord address notice (RHW2 form)

Serve the written statement, EICR, and landlord-address information within 14 days of the occupation date. Serve the gas record and EPC before occupation. If you take a deposit, give the prescribed information within 30 days of receiving it. Prepare proof-of-service records for each.

Rent Smart Wales

Confirm your registration is current before the contract starts. If you carry out letting or management work yourself, you need a Rent Smart Wales licence; otherwise, appoint a licensed agent. Rent Smart Wales may issue a £150 fixed penalty for a registration offence or a £250 fixed penalty for an unlicensed letting or management offence. More than 3,000 fixed penalty notices have been issued for registration and licensing failures.

Documenting the Inspection

Photograph every room, every alarm, every certificate, and any area of concern. Date-stamp the photos (most phone cameras do this automatically). Compile them into a pre-letting inspection record alongside copies of all safety certificates.

This record serves two purposes: it proves the property was fit at commencement (defending against future disrepair claims), and it establishes the baseline condition for end-of-contract comparisons.

Turning This Into a Repeatable Process

If you let the same property between contract-holders regularly, build a reusable checklist that mirrors the inspection sequence above. The Fitness for Human Habitation compliance guide includes a property self-inspection checklist structured around the 29 statutory matters, along with a new-tenancy setup workflow that covers both the physical inspection and the document service deadlines.

The goal is not perfection — it is a documented, dated process that shows you checked everything the law says you must check, before the contract-holder moved in.

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