5th
Jul 2013
If Labour gets into power in the next election then top of their agenda is new legislation for all landlords. This is many respects would be the resurrection of the RUG Report that was commisisioned by then Labour Yvette Cooper In January 2008 see PIMS report review
According to their review paper, out of all the landlords who are responsible for approximately 3.6 million households that are privately rented, up to only 1,500 are reported by Councils are classed serial criminal landlords.
Labour is planning to introduce a National Register of Landlords with the aim that anyone who is found to be negligent will be struck off the Register and conseuently stopped from being a landlord.
Jack Dromey, the shadow housing minister said “The private rented sector has an important role to play in meeting housing need, but too many tenants are in poor and sometimes dangerous homes. That’s why Labour has set out proposals to drive standards up and bad landlords out.”
- Labour has also stated in the review that they are going to “kick out” the practice by landlords who evict their tenants because they make complaints about their living conditions in the properties as being sub-standard or just because they ask for justifiable repairs and maintenance to the property or contents.
They will also actively back the HMRC to get the estimated £500 million that is due to the Treasury from tax evasion by private landlords.
These announcements contrast with the current Westminster Government’s opposition to regulation of the sector. If this opposition continues, tenants in England are still at risk from rogue letting agents and landlords.
- Labour’s review paper clashes with the Government which at present has no intention of introducing a National Regulatory scheme for all Landlords.
A spokesperson Ian Potter, Managing Director, ARLA said: “The PRS remains an unregulated industry, and in the event of something going wrong consumers still only have limited options. ARLA has been calling for regulation of the sector for a number of years now, and as more and more people rent, rather than own their home, it is vital that legislation in England is at least in line with its neighbours.
- “Of course we welcome the Labour Party’s latest policy review and share their ambition to improve standards in the PRS – the case studies the report outlined are a stark reminder of the unacceptable conditions that are thriving in the absence of regulation – but these reforms need to be proportionate. More importantly, what we really need is actual policy not proposals; and it must be policy that is consistent and able to keep step with legislative developments elsewhere in Britain.
“Renting should be a positive experience and tenants should know that not only is their money safe but so is the property they live in. All ARLA members must offer a redress service and client money protection to help protect tenants if something goes wrong.”
- There seems to be little or no mention of Letting Agents having to register on the scheme and yet one of their sector associations is backing the idea. The cost of implementing such a
- Registry would be extremely high and this could be a potential “cash-cow” as the public purse will almost certainly not be shouldering the financial burden.
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