What is no longer required.
The How to Rent guide has been withdrawn following the Renters' Rights Act. If your checklist still has it on there, your checklist is out of date.
Tenancy Compliance File, founding pre-order
One file with common tenancy-start paperwork and a record of what you served and when.
For self-managing landlords in England. Built around the private rented sector rules as they stand today, including the changes that took effect on 1 May 2026.
Most landlords have the documents. They are in an email somewhere, a folder on a laptop, a photo on a phone. That is usually fine, right up until someone asks you to produce them: a tenant disputing a deposit, a council officer, a judge.
This is one file, per tenancy, for the obligations that commonly apply when a tenancy starts in England, each with its primary source, for you to confirm against your own property. It records the dates and documents you give us. You keep it. You can print it, forward it, or hand it over.
Contents register
A dated file for one tenancy in England with these common tenancy-start records:
On a small screen, scroll the register sideways to read every column.
| Obligation | What the file records | Dated entry |
|---|---|---|
| Gas safety | The gas safety check, covering each appliance and flue the landlord is responsible for, which must happen at intervals of not more than 12 months, and the record, which must go to each existing tenant within 28 days of the check and to any new tenant before they occupy. | |
| Electrical installation | The electrical installation condition report for tenancies the Electrical Safety Standards regulations cover, inspected and tested by a qualified person at intervals of no more than five years or sooner if the report says so, with the report due to each existing tenant within 28 days, to the council within 7 days of a written request, and to a new tenant before they occupy. | |
| Energy performance | The energy performance certificate, which must be made available free of charge to a prospective tenant and given to the person who takes the tenancy, and which is valid for ten years provided no newer certificate has since been registered for the building. | |
| Minimum energy efficiency | The minimum energy efficiency position, which in England and Wales means a property below EPC band E must not be let unless an exemption applies. | |
| Alarms | Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms: what is required where, and the check on the day a new tenancy begins. | |
| Deposit | The deposit: the 30-day clock for protecting it under an authorised scheme, and the separate 30-day clock for giving the tenant the prescribed information. Both start on the day you receive the deposit. | |
| Written terms | The written statement of terms, which has been required for assured tenancies in England that are not social housing tenancies since 1 May 2026 and is generally due before the tenancy is entered into. | |
| Right to rent | Right to rent, which applies at the start of the tenancy. We record the date you did it and nothing else. We do not ask for, hold, or want a copy of anyone's immigration documents. |
Additional contents
Plus:
What is not required at all.
Health and safety law does not require a landlord to obtain or produce a legionella test certificate. A risk assessment is the duty. We will tell you that rather than sell you a reminder for a certificate that does not exist.
What is coming, and when.
The private rented sector database is not open yet; government has said roll-out begins from late 2026 and that signing up will be mandatory for all private landlords. The landlord ombudsman is expected in 2028. Awaab's Law has not yet been extended to the private rented sector and its timing is subject to consultation. The decent homes standard has been proposed for either 2035 or 2037. Four things, none of them in force, all of them widely written about as though they already are.
The RRA Compliance Pack, included.
All 15 editable documents, normally £19.
A twelve-month dated schedule
For this tenancy, in a form you can put straight into your own calendar.
Pre-order boundary
What you do not get yet
Being straight about this, because it is a pre-order.
There is no app, no login and no document vault. Not yet. You are buying a file, built by hand, for one tenancy, delivered to you by email within five working days. If a proper application follows, founding customers get its first year at no extra cost, and if it ever becomes a subscription, this price is honoured.
Capacity and delivery
Founding terms
20 files in this first round. That is not a sales tactic, it is how many can be built properly by one person in a fortnight.
Founding customers get:
- The file, by email, within five working days of purchase.
- The £19 RRA Compliance Pack included.
- The first year of any application that comes out of this, at no extra cost.
- This price honoured if it ever becomes a subscription.
- A direct reply to any email you send about it while this round is open. Not a help desk.
Refunds
Full 14-day refund from delivery, no reason needed.
Email within 14 days of delivery and the full purchase price is refunded.
Where this applies
England.
The tenancy rules in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are different enough that a file built for England would be wrong rather than merely incomplete, so this is not sold for property outside England.
The boundary, stated plainly
This is administrative help, not legal advice.
SelfLandlord is not a regulator, not a law firm and not a certification body. Nothing here certifies or approves anything, and buying it does not make a property compliant. The file records dates and documents you give us, and points at the primary source for each obligation so you can read it yourself. Whether a particular rule applies to your property is a question for you, and for a solicitor if it matters.
Two things this specifically cannot do. It cannot tell you whether your property needs an HMO licence or a selective licence, because that depends on the wider licensing rules and on your council's own scheme. And it cannot know about anything you have not told us about.
Decision point
£29.99, one off, for one tenancy.
No subscription. The file is built by hand and delivered by email within five working days.
VAT position: VAT treatment has not yet been confirmed.
Pre-order for £29.99Questions before deciding
FAQ
Is this software?
Not yet. Right now it is a file, built by hand. If enough people want it, it becomes software, and you get that first year free.
Why £29.99 when other landlord apps are free?
Several are free for one to three properties, and they are perfectly good at holding dates. They are built for portfolios. This is built for the start of a tenancy in England, and for the moment somebody asks you to prove what you served and when. If a free app already does what you need, use the free app.
How is this different from your £19 pack?
The pack is the documents. This adds a dated list of the obligations that commonly apply when a tenancy starts in England, each with its primary source, for you to confirm against your own property. The pack is included, so you are not buying it twice.
Do you tell me when things expire?
You get a twelve-month dated schedule you can put in your own calendar. Automated email reminders are not part of this round. We would rather promise less and deliver it than run a reminder service that has not been proven.
What do you need from me?
The property address, the tenancy start date, the deposit date if there is one, and the dates of any certificates you already have. Nothing about your tenant beyond that.
What happens to my documents?
For this round, nothing is uploaded. You send dates, we send back a file. There is no vault yet, so there is nothing held beyond what you email.
Do you check my certificates?
No. We are not qualified to and we do not pretend to be. The file records what you tell us.
What if the law changes after I buy?
It will. That is rather the point of the four items listed above that are not in force yet. Founding customers get told when something on their file changes.
Can I have this for my property in Cardiff or Glasgow?
No. England only, for now.