Selling with the tenant in place is not selling an empty house with paperwork attached. You are transferring a live tenancy, with statutory clocks already running, to someone who becomes responsible for them on completion and who will ask you to prove where each one stands.
For a landlord selling one of several properties this is a routine event that goes wrong in predictable places. The two worst are the deposit and a notice most sellers have never heard of, which keeps you on the hook after the money has cleared.
The notice that keeps you liable
Section 3 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 puts a duty on the new landlord: when the landlord's interest is assigned, they must give the tenant written notice of the assignment, and of their name and address.
The deadline is precise: "not later than the next day on which rent is payable under the tenancy or, if that is within two months of the assignment, the end of that period of two months."
Failing to do it, without reasonable excuse, is a summary offence carrying a fine of up to level 4 on the standard scale.
That is the buyer's duty, not yours. Here is why it is your problem anyway.
Subsections 3(3A) and 3(3B) say the old landlord stays "liable to the tenant in respect of any breach of any covenant, condition or agreement under the tenancy occurring before the end of the relevant period", as if the interest were still vested in them. Where the new landlord is also liable, the two are jointly and severally liable.
The "relevant period" runs from the date of the assignment until that written notice is given, by either of you, whichever happens first.
So if your buyer does not write to the tenant, your liability for what happens at that property does not stop at completion. It stops when someone tells the tenant who the landlord is now. The useful consequence: you can end it yourself, because 3(3B)(b) lets the old landlord give notice of the assignment and the new landlord's name and last-known address.
The deposit
Section 213 of the Housing Act 2004 requires a deposit taken for an assured tenancy to be dealt with under an authorised scheme from the time it is received, with the scheme's initial requirements met within 30 days, and the prescribed information given to the tenant and any relevant person, in the prescribed form, within the same 30 days.
Subsection 213(9) adds that this applies "despite any agreement to the contrary", so nothing written into the sale contract changes what is owed to the tenant.
Two practical points follow for a sale:
- The deposit is the tenant's money, not an asset of the sale. Whether it is transferred to the buyer or returned and re-taken, the position has to end up correct under the scheme's rules, and the schemes each have their own process for a change of landlord. Check the process with the scheme that actually holds it rather than assuming the buyer's solicitor will.
- The protection history matters more than the balance. A buyer inherits whatever compliance position exists. If the original protection or prescribed information was late, that does not disappear on completion, and it is the kind of thing that surfaces later when possession is needed.
What has to exist, and what the dates prove
A tenanted sale is, in practice, an evidence exercise. These are the records the law requires to exist for a let in England, each with the deadline that makes it valid:
| Record | The rule | The date that matters |
|---|---|---|
| Gas safety record | Check at intervals of not more than 12 months | Date of the last check, and that a copy went to the tenant within 28 days |
| Electrical report (EICR) | Intervals of no more than 5 years, or shorter if the report says so | Date of the report and the next-inspection date it specifies |
| EPC | Required for a let | Date of issue |
| Deposit protection | Scheme requirements within 30 days | The date the deposit was received, not the date of the tenancy |
| Prescribed information | Within the same 30 days | The date it was given, and to whom |
| Licence, where one applies | Set by the council | Expiry date, and the conditions attached |
The pattern is that in almost every row, the thing being proved is a date, not a document. A gas certificate with no evidence of when it reached the tenant is half a record. A deposit protected on the right day, evidenced, is worth more at this moment than a tidier file.
A seller's order of work
- 1Assemble by tenancy, not by property. Everything above attaches to the tenancy that is transferring: the deposit, the prescribed information, the rent history, the notices served.
- 2Check the dates before the buyer does. The awkward ones are usually the deposit's 30 days and whether the gas record reached the tenant within 28 days of the check, because both are about when something was given, not when it was done.
- 3Do not let the Section 3 notice drift. It is the buyer's duty, but your liability runs until it is given. Ask, and if it has not happened, give it yourself under 3(3B)(b).
- 4Hand over the forward dates too. The next gas check, the EICR's own next-inspection date, the licence expiry. The buyer is inheriting a running calendar, not a folder.
LetCompliance keeps these against the tenancy rather than the address, with the date each one was issued and the date it was sent, so a tenanted sale is a matter of reading off a record rather than reconstructing one. The rest of the let, the rent history and the notices, sits in the same place.
Sources: Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 3, Housing Act 2004, section 213, Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, regulation 36 and the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, regulation 3, all read on 21 September 2026. Which structure or contract terms suit a particular sale is a question for a conveyancer.
Sources and scope
- GOV.UK: Renting out a property
- GOV.UK: Your landlord’s safety responsibilities
- HSE: Gas safety in rented properties
Every figure on this page is cited to GOV.UK, legislation.gov.uk or HSE and reviewed against the live source every quarter. This is guidance, not individual legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to tell the tenant I have sold the property?
The duty is on the buyer. Section 3 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires the new landlord to give the tenant written notice of the assignment and of their name and address, by the next rent day or the end of two months from the assignment, whichever is later. Failing to do so without reasonable excuse is a summary offence with a fine of up to level 4.
Am I still liable after completion?
Until that notice is given, yes. Section 3(3A) keeps the old landlord liable to the tenant for breaches occurring before the end of the relevant period, jointly and severally with the new landlord. The relevant period ends when written notice of the assignment and the new landlord's name is given by either of you, so you can end it yourself under 3(3B)(b).
What happens to the deposit when I sell?
It stays the tenant's money and the protection position has to end up correct under the scheme's rules, which each scheme handles its own way for a change of landlord. Section 213(9) of the Housing Act 2004 says the requirements apply despite any agreement to the contrary, so the sale contract cannot vary what is owed to the tenant.
Which records does the buyer inherit?
The live ones: the gas safety record and the date of the last check, the EICR and the next-inspection date it specifies, the EPC, the deposit protection and prescribed information with the dates they were given, and any licence with its expiry and conditions.
