ARLA Level 3 Residential Letting & Property Management common mistakes
ARLA Level 3 Residential Letting & Property Management · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Giving a deposit-protection timeline answer (for example, 30 days) without stating from which trigger event the clock runs - receipt of the deposit versus the start of the tenancy - and without stating the penalty for late compliance.
Candidates memorise the headline number and stop there. The number feels like the whole answer, so the trigger date and consequences are never rehearsed. In practice the trigger is the key discriminator between scenarios, and examiners build scenarios that turn on it.
What to do instead
For every deadline you cite, write a three-part answer: the number, the trigger event, and the consequence of missing it. Practise with two contrasting scenarios (deposit taken before tenancy start versus after) so the trigger is always stated unprompted.
Treating the tenancy deposit protection rules as applying only to assured shorthold tenancies and ignoring other deposit-taking situations such as licences or tenancies that are not ASTs.
Study material is organised around ASTs, so candidates generalise the AST framing to every case. They then apply or withhold the protection duty based on the wrong test.
What to do instead
Before answering any deposit question, identify the tenancy type first, then state whether the statutory scheme applies and why. Build a short decision list: what type of interest is it, who holds the deposit, and which regime governs it.
Answering a safety question with a single generic statement (for example, 'the landlord must ensure the property is safe') instead of naming the specific duty, the item it covers, and the frequency or trigger for checking it.
Candidates know the general principle but have not built item-by-item recall, so they write a broad assurance sentence that scores no marks for specifics.
What to do instead
Create a one-page matrix of safety obligations: obligation, who is responsible, how often or on what trigger, and what evidence of compliance looks like. Answer safety questions by naming the item and the check frequency before any general comment.
Confusing repairing obligations between landlord and tenant, for example attributing responsibility for the structure and exterior to the tenant, or attributing responsibility for internal decoration to the landlord.
The statutory repairing duty is learned as a phrase rather than as a boundary. Without a clear picture of where the landlord's obligation stops and the tenant's begins, candidates swap the parties under time pressure.
What to do instead
Draw the boundary explicitly: structure, exterior, and installations for the landlord; internal decorative condition and the tenant's own additions for the tenant. For each practice question, state who is responsible and cite the reason, not just the label.
Failing to distinguish a repair from an improvement, and therefore missing that the tenant's improvement or alteration generally needs consent while a repair does not.
Both feel like 'works to the property', so candidates treat them as one category and give a single answer that is right for one and wrong for the other.
What to do instead
Before answering, classify the work as repair, improvement, or alteration, then state the consent position for that class. Practise with paired examples (replacing a broken boiler versus installing a new heating system) to sharpen the distinction.
Ignoring the distinction between a tenancy and a licence when answering questions about occupation, and applying tenancy rights to an occupier who holds only a licence.
Candidates focus on the practical outcome (who can stay, who can be removed) and skip the legal classification step that determines it.
What to do instead
Make the first line of every occupation answer a classification: tenancy or licence, and the feature that decides it (exclusive possession, rent, term). Then apply the consequences that follow from that classification.
Giving a possession or eviction answer that names the notice or ground but omits the procedural steps - the form of notice, the length of notice, and the court route - so the answer describes an intention rather than a lawful process.
Candidates learn the labels (section 8, section 21, grounds) and assume the label is the answer. The procedural sequence is longer to recall and gets compressed or skipped.
What to do instead
Write possession answers as an ordered sequence: identify the ground or route, state the notice type and length, state the court step, and state what evidence is needed. Rehearse the sequence aloud until the order is automatic.
Using ground numbers or notice section numbers from memory without checking which ground covers the situation described, leading to a right-sounding answer citing the wrong ground.
Numbers are learned in lists that blur together, and under exam pressure the nearest familiar number is produced rather than the correct one.
What to do instead
Anchor each ground to a one-line scenario in your notes (for example, rent arrears, breach of covenant, damage) and recall the scenario first, then the number. If you are not certain of a number, describe the ground accurately in words rather than guessing a number.
Answering money-handling questions (client money, rent collection, service charges) without separating client money from the firm's own money or stating how it must be held and accounted for.
Candidates treat money questions as arithmetic or process questions and overlook the segregation principle that the question is really testing.
What to do instead
For any money question, state the segregation principle first: whose money it is, where it must be held, and what records must exist. Then answer the specific point asked.
Writing long narrative answers that bury the required point, so a correct fact is present but not identifiable, and marks are lost to structure rather than to knowledge.
Candidates fear leaving something out, so they write everything they know. The result is unstructured prose where the assessor cannot locate the answer to each part of the question.
What to do instead
Answer in the structure of the question: one short paragraph or bullet per part, leading with the direct answer and following with the reason. Before moving on, check that each part of the question has its own visible answer.