Commentary on Sections Part 3 Miscellaneous and General Summary and background Section 86: Letting agency work and property management work
470.This section defines letting agency work and property management work for the purposes of this Chapter.
471.Subsection (1) defines letting agency work as work undertaken on behalf of prospective landlords and prospective tenants and covers the process both of finding a tenant for the landlord or a property for a tenant and the work done to put the tenancy in place. It applies only to the letting of privately rented homes. Subsection (2) excludes from the definition of letting agency work those businesses that simply allow landlords and tenants to find and communicate with one another, provided they do not otherwise participate in the transaction.
472.Subsection (3) provides that local authorities are not included and thereby ensures that, for example, any local letting agency business established by local authorities is not caught by the duty in section 83.
473.Subsection (4) defines property management work for the purposes of this Chapter. The premises managed must consist of a dwelling-house let under an assured tenancy. As with letting agency work, property management work applies only to privately rented homes (see commentary on section 88 below).