Inventory clerks are ‘ideally-placed’ to protect landlords from some of the heavy fines incurred from a breach of regulations in the Renters Reform Bill, claims Nick Lyons, managing director of inventory and property inspection specialists, NoLettingGo
The Bill, currently awaiting its Second Commons Reading, proposes to extend the Decent Homes Standard (already implemented in social housing) to the Private Rented Sector (PRS).
Lyons said:” The task of professionally monitoring the condition of a property is tailor-made for inventory clerks.
“We already undertake pre-tenancy, mid-term and end of tenancy checks and deliver a professional report on what we find.
“Extending this service to include an assessment of a ‘Decent Standard’ would be a logical addition.”
According to the 2021 English Housing Survey, 23% of homes in the PRS were estimated to be ‘non decent’.
Earlier this month analysis by the Home Builders’ Federation claimed that homes in England were less affordable and in worse condition than most other developed countries including Hungary, Poland and Lithuania.
New measures proposed in the Bill would introduce a landlords’ Property Portal on which all landlords will have to register their properties and declare that they met the Decent Homes Standard. Landlords who make a false declaration could face fines of up to £30,000.
When the Bill was introduced, housing secretary Michael Gove, said: “The government will also bring forward legislation as part of the Bill to apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time, giving renters safer, higher quality homes and remove the blight of poor-quality homes in local communities.
“This will help deliver the government’s Levelling Up mission to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030.”
Ready-made role
However, a detailed proposal on the Decent Homes Standard as it would apply to the PRS was not included in the draft legislation and the government said it would set out its next steps ‘in due course’ – possibly as amendments to the Bill as it progresses through Parliament.
The standard currently applying to the social sector outlines that homes must be free from health and safety hazards, in a good state of repair, have appropriate facilities and be sufficiently warm.
Lyons added: “Even though some of the finer details are yet to be worked out, you can see the government wants to introduce more regulation and minimum standards into the PRS – from measures combating damp and mould to minimum energy efficiency standards.
“There is a ready-made role here for inventory clerks – who already provide professional reports to lettings agents and landlords – to safeguard landlords by alerting them to potential problems before they become serious issues in danger of falling foul of the law.
“Many landlords are abroad much of the time or are too busy with other things to keep track of the condition of every property in their portfolio.
“Regular inspections are going to become an essential part of any lettings business and this would seem to me to be a natural extension of the inventory service because clerks are already making regular visits to rented properties.”
