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Compulsory PRS licensing still firmly on agenda despite Queen’s Speech silence
No detail or even mention was given in the Queen’s Speech on the mandatory licensing of private landlords, promised last week by prime minister David Cameron.
However, one landlord body said it has new information that HMO licensing will now be changed and yesterday morning, the website Nearly Legal tore into the likely new immigration laws, saying that the “full horror” is just sinking in.
Nearly Legal said:”It is is clear that the government intends to use immigration law as an excuse to introduce some radical – and conceptually awful – reforms to housing law. . . New laws will mean that a tenancy will automatically end if the tenant is unlawfully present (e.g. if their visa ends) and there will be steps taken to make it easier to evict illegal immigrants.
“The full horror of this last part is just sinking in. Leaving aside the utter unreality of expecting landlords to understand immigration law, how on earth can a tenancy be ended because of a transitory personal status?”
Nearly Legal concluded: “This is going to be a disastrous legislative programme doing untold damage to the interests of landlords, tenants and housing law itself. The only clear winners from this will be the lawyers.”
The Queen’s Speech, described as thin on several aspects of the legislative agenda of the new government, made only the briefest mention of immigration controls – the ‘Right to Rent’ context in which Cameron specifically pledged licensing just days ago.
It means that the watching and waiting for important detail will have to continue. There is speculation as to whether there could be a new national registration scheme of landlords, whether this would encompass agents, and whether this would tie in with local licensing schemes.
But one obvious difficulty is that not all authorities have licensing schemes beyond the current mandatory regime.
At the moment, this relates to specific rental properties of three storeys or more, shared by five or more people in two different households. The Government has not made it clear whether it regards basic mandatory licensing as sufficient in its armory against illegal immigrants.
Wednesday night, the Residential Landlords Association said that the current HMO thresholds look set to be reduced.
It said: “While seeming to dispel concerns over a general, national landlord licensing requirement, a great many homes and landlords not currently covered by local additional licensing schemes could find themselves caught under a new mandatory scheme.
“This will also place local authorities under substantial pressure as they will have to process the large number of applications for new licences, assess the properties and carry out further enforcement against those who have not sought licences.
“Given that, as the RLA has highlighted, current enforcement is often patchy, a new further area of enforcement work may make the situation worse rather than better.”
Following on from the Queen’s Speech and at the moment, it does seem that landlords all over the UK, who can and do assign their legal duties to agents, will shortly have to conduct immigration status checks on tenants.
Legal guru David Smith said: “It is clear that the Right to Rent scheme will be rolled out fairly rapidly, and there was an oblique reference to a mandatory licensing scheme for landlords.
“This is of great concern but until more details are available it is not clear whether this is a new licensing scheme, as is about to be introduced in Wales, or something smaller such as a widening of current HMO licensing provisions.”
Paul Smith, chief executive of Spicerhaart, also expressed worries about the national roll-out of immigration checks.
He said: “The policy issue underlying these new rules is tackling illegal immigration into the UK – a laudable aim, but passing this task on to landlords, and inevitably letting agents acting in their best interests, is misplaced.
“Landlords and letting agents are not border control agents and adding another layer to the administration means agent fees will increase, as all checks and referencing are labour and time intensive.
“Ultimately the tenant pays the price.”
