The lettings industry has hit out at a Government commissioned review into selective licensing which backs the creation of a national landlord register, saying such schemes do not work.
The review from Opinion Research Services on selective licensing suggests a national landlord register would help complement selective licensing schemes and provide easy access to data on who should have a licence.
It also highlights a lack of data on the rental sector as a key problem with effective licensing and enforcement but it also recommends a range of reforms. And while the review was not asked to recommend how a licensing scheme would work, the authors say there is a ‘significant appetite for such an initiative’.
It is unclear whether a register would apply to lettings agents, but they could be covered by other new regulations in the sector.
Landlord organisations hit out at the review and said that licensing schemes do not work.
‘It’s disappointing that the long-awaited review on Selective Licensing recommends the continuation of the schemes. Licensing schemes do not work, and never will,’ said David Cox, chief executive of the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA).
‘They are not an effective way of promoting higher quality accommodation and introducing landlord registration will not be the silver bullet to improve the effectiveness of property licensing. Local authorities need investment to enforce the wide range of legislation that already exists,’ he pointed out.
‘For years we have called for an alternative to licensing. The Government should instead take this as an opportunity to introduce a Property MOT, which would cover all elements of property condition, energy efficiency and other legal requirements,’ he added.
According to John Stewart, policy manager for the Residential Landlords Association, Ministers have repeatedly made clear that a national register of landlords would become an unnecessary and costly additional layer of bureaucracy.
‘We agree. All it would become is a list of good landlords which brings us no closer to finding the crooks that operate under the radar. Selective licensing has become a replacement for lost central Government funding and provides no assurances to tenants about the quality of accommodation,’ he said.
‘Properties do not need to be inspected before a landlord is given a licence and the RLA has found that many councils are charging eye watering sums of money for almost nothing in return. Local authorities need the will and the resources to put real effort into finding the criminal landlords who never come forward to make themselves known,’ he explained.
‘That means using a range of information they can already access including council tax returns, information on tenancy deposits and benefit data to root out the minority of landlords who bring the sector into disrepute,’ he added.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is now considering the report. ‘Select licensing has made a real difference to areas across the country. This report further demonstrates that with proper planning, consultation and implementation, these schemes can make a real difference to the quality of homes people live in. The report does highlight some important matters which require further consideration, and we will work with the sector to continue to understand their concerns before responding fully,’ a spokesperson said.
However, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), welcomed the report and called on the Government to commit to taking the recommendations forward. ‘Selective licensing schemes are very effective despite suffering from a number of design flaws such as inadequate powers to address housing conditions, overly bureaucratic processes for introducing a scheme, and lack of accurate data on the size of a local private rented sector,’ said Tamara Sandoul, CIEH policy manager.
‘We encourage the Government to take all the recommendations on board and improve these schemes so they can work even better at improving the safety and decency of renters’ homes. Vitally, we believe the introduction of a national registration scheme for landlords would play an invaluable role in streamlining enforcement action in the private rented sector, and supporting the introduction of selective licensing where this could be beneficial,’ she added.
