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Mandatory national register of landlords needed, says Shelter
Shelter has called for a mandatory national register of landlords to crack down on amateur and rogue operators.
But its demands have quickly been rejected by the housing minister and criticised by the National Landlords Association.
The Safe and Decent Homes report by Shelter and British Gas says: “Ill-informed amateur and accidental landlords are far more numerous than rogues – and can be as dangerous for renters.
“The large number of amateur and accidental landlords has led to a lack of professionalism and expertise on conditions and standards.”
The report says that more than one in four landlords have no previous experience of letting out a property and 43% do not regard lettings as a proper business.
It says just one in 20 landlords belongs to an accreditation scheme.
A national register would force landlords to prove they meet basic safety standards and undergo training on their responsibilities.
The report, which cites a survey of 4,500 private tenants, claims that six in ten have suffered from damp, mould, leaking roofs or windows, electrical hazards, gas leaks and “animal infiltrations”.
The report also restates Shelter’s case for protection for tenants against “retaliatory evictions”, claiming that hundreds of thousands of people every year are evicted for complaining about poor conditions, with others having to put up with “non-decent homes because they fear reporting poor conditions”.
However, housing minister Brandon Lewis has rejected the idea of further regulation.
He said: “The majority of landlords provide a good service but I’m determined to root out the minority of landlords who are offering their tenants a raw deal. That’s why we are allocating more than £6m to councils to tackle rogue landlords in their area.
“But we are also avoiding imposing excessive regulation that would push up rents, reduce choice for tenants and strangle the industry in red tape and regulation. For example, the experience of Scotland shows that banning letting agents from charging fees to tenants has just resulted in higher rents.”
Richard Lambert, chief executive officer of the National Landlords Association, said of the latest report: “It paints an inaccurate picture of a sector in tatters, based on opinion polls and conjecture rather than hard evidence.”
Campaign group Generation Rent meanwhile has launched a petition calling for rent controls.
It says that controlling rents is “response to the private renting affordability crisis”.
Its proposals are in the first place directed at London, but are “applicable to anywhere where the rent is too high”.
Seb Klier of Generation Rent says: “We [in the UK] have allowed ourselves to reach a situation where the rent is plainly too high, but very few are advocating for rent controls, despite the clear problem they solve and the fact that they would be hugely popular with much of the population.”
Generation Rent is proposing that council tax bands would be used to control rents. Monthly rents should not be more than half annual council tax.
For example, a Band A property in Croydon attracts £780 in annual council tax, so its monthly rent could not be more than £390.
However, Generation Rent suggests landlords could charge more than this. But if they did, then 50% of the surcharge would go into a ring-fenced fund for social house building.
By yesterday evening, the petition had 115 signatures.
http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/mandatory-national-register-landlords-needed-says-shelter/
