Skip to content

ARLA calls for regulation of the private rented property sector in the UK

In an attempt to tackle rogue agents and promote professionalism and basic standards, ARLA has published a paper looking at the complexity and duplication of current oversight within the sector and outlining a case for mandatory regulation.

Unveiled to coincide with its annual ARLA Week of conferences and events, the proposed model recommends an overarching industry regulator to oversee different accredited industry bodies tasked with licensing and promoting best practice amongst landlords, lettings agents, managing agents and estate agents respectively.

It says that these bodies would ensure their membership were signed up to a code of practice and able to demonstrate minimum requirements relating to qualifications, professional indemnity, client money protection and accounting governance.
According to ARLA, all companies and landlords operating in the property sector should be required by law to hold membership of one of these accredited bodies.

‘The PRS is becoming increasingly important, not only to the UK economy, but to the millions of tenants who rely on it for their homes, and it is being dangerously undermined by a minority of agents who fail to adhere to basic standards,’ said Ian Potter, ARLA managing director.

‘Regulating the sector is a complete win win situation. Tenants will get better quality property and have their rights and money protected; the industry will be rid of unprofessional practice and enjoy a better reputation and the government will have a simpler system to oversee and ultimately fewer disputes to resolve,’ he explained.

‘Failure to regulate will mean that rogue agents continue to blight the sector, damaging trust in the majority of responsible agents and resulting in poorer housing conditions and dwindling supply. We are not saying our model is the only way. We welcome the views of the wider industry and are open to debate as to which body would prove most apt for industry oversight and how regulation could, and should, work,’ he added.

Speaking at a Parliamentary reception held to coincide with ARLA Week, shadow housing minister Jack Dromey backed the move. ‘The whole of the private rented sector from ARLA, representing the letting agents, through the landlords organisations, the National Landlords Association and Residential Landlords Association, to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and the British Property Federation want letting agents, like Estate Agents, to be properly regulated in the future,’ he said.

ARLA's call for change comes against a backdrop of increased reliance on the PRS within the UK, with demand fast outstripping supply up and down the country. According to the latest figures from ARLA, some 57% of its members offices say that there are currently more tenants than there are available properties and one in six households in the UK now rent their home from a private landlord, more than at any time in the past 50 years.

 ARLA believes mandatory regulation will create a simpler, more transparent system that will weed out rogue operators, give consumers clarity and reassurance, and ultimately improve supply through greater investment in the sector.

Peter Bolton-King, global residential director at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said the organisation has long supported greater regulation in lettings to ensure consistency with sales.

‘We, along with other industry bodies like ARLA, recognise the need to promote professionalism within lettings for the benefit of businesses and consumers, and believe clear and consistent mandatory regulation, targeted where the risks are greatest, is the best way to achieve that,’ he added.

Related