In this blog:
- What does the Renters’ Rights Act mean for Surrey landlords in practice?
- Where do Surrey landlords most often get caught out?
- What should a property inspection actually cover?
- What is the difference between rent collection and full management?
Most Surrey landlords believe their property is being looked after. Most pay someone for management, through an agent or an informal arrangement, and most, asked directly, would say they feel reasonably confident about where things stand. Since the Renters’ Rights Act came into force on 1 May 2026, that confidence is worth testing. No-fault evictions are gone, all tenancies are now periodic, and a landlord now needs a valid legal reason to end a tenancy. For landlords who are actively managed, these changes are already in hand. For those whose agent largely collects the rent and little else, one question is worth asking honestly: is my property actually covered?
Where Surrey landlords get caught out
The risks in Cobham, Esher, Weybridge and the surrounding areas are rarely dramatic. They are quiet, and they accumulate. An inspection due in October that never got booked. A gas safety certificate renewed three weeks late. A maintenance request resolved quickly but never logged in writing. A deposit protected, but in the wrong scheme. None of it feels serious in the moment. In a dispute, a possession claim or a compliance check, any one of them can become a significant problem, because a landlord who cannot demonstrate they met their obligations is now in a much weaker position than before. The issue is rarely neglect. It is the absence of structure, and in this environment drift is expensive.
What a property inspection is really for
There is a common assumption that inspections are about checking whether tenants are looking after the home. That is part of it. The more important function rarely gets mentioned: every inspection, properly completed and recorded, adds a point to the documented timeline of your property’s condition. When a tenancy ends and there is a disagreement about its state, that timeline is often the most valuable thing a landlord has. Without it, a dispute is one word against another. With it, the record speaks for itself. For prime Surrey rentals, where tenants expect a well-kept home and values are significant, an inspection done properly is not administration. It is protection. It also catches maintenance early, when a damp patch is cheap to treat rather than expensive to repair.
What the Renters’ Rights Act means in practice
The headline is the end of Section 21, but the obligations alongside it deserve equal attention. Notice periods for possession have lengthened, the new selling and moving-in grounds cannot be used in the first twelve months of a tenancy, rent increases are limited to once a year with notice, and Awaab’s Law now extends to the private rented sector, so serious issues such as damp and mould must be addressed within defined timeframes. Each change puts more weight on how a tenancy is managed day to day: documentation, communication, maintenance records and compliance tracking are now the framework within which a landlord demonstrates they acted correctly.
Rent collection and full management are not the same thing
This is the point that matters most. A rent collection service advertises the property, finds a tenant and collects the rent, often chasing arrears too. What it typically does not include is scheduled inspections, compliance monitoring, maintenance coordination, documentation of the tenancy, or proactive contact with the tenant on your behalf. That gap is significant: a landlord on rent collection is, in practice, managing the property themselves, whether they realise it or not. For hands-on landlords that can work well. For those who chose an agent precisely so someone else would handle things, it is worth knowing exactly what is and is not covered. Full management means the agent is responsible on an ongoing basis: inspections scheduled and completed, certificates tracked and renewed before they lapse, maintenance handled and logged, a direct point of contact for the tenant and clear, regular updates for you.
How to know if you are exposed
Most landlords do not know, because they have never been shown a clear picture of what is and is not covered. The questions to ask are simple. When was the last inspection, and is there a written report? Are all compliance certificates current, and do you hold copies? Is there a maintenance log for the tenancy? Does your agent deal with your tenant directly, or does everything come back to you? If any of those are hard to answer, it is worth finding out more.
At Chesterfield Gordon, we work with landlords across Cobham, Esher, Weybridge and the wider Surrey area. Our Surrey office is open by appointment, and we are happy to carry out a straightforward management review for any landlord who wants a clear view of where their property stands. No obligation and no pressure, just a practical conversation about your property, your current arrangement and whether anything needs to change.