25th
Nov 2019
The Government has just announced it has not set any plans in place to establish a national landlord register for the private rented sector.
pixabay.com
At the same time it admitted to not having undertaken a detailed assessment of the ‘A licence to rent’ report from the research project conducted jointly between the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and the Chartered Institute of Housing.
The report suggested that:
“Central Government should consider introducing a national landlord registration scheme, which would support and complement selective licensing schemes by making it easier for local authorities to identify the majority of landlords in their area.
“Whilst this would not completely remove the need for data matching and other exercises to find unregistered landlords, it would help local authorities to build a much better picture of the private rented sector in their areas and reduce the resources needed to start a new scheme.”
Baroness Thornhill sent a written question to the government asking if there had been any assessment of the report or progress made in deciding to set up a national landlord register.
She wrote: "To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Chartered Institute of Housing and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health A licence to rent, published in January, calling for the creation of a national landlord register for the private rented sector in England."
On behalf of the government, Viscount Younger of Leckie replied:
“A detailed assessment of this report has not been made. This Government commissioned an independent review into selective licensing which was published on 25 June 2019 and the recommendations are currently being reviewed.
“This Government has no current plans to introduce a national landlord register, which could place an additional regulatory burden on landlords. This Government is committed to improving the private rented sector by driving out criminal landlords and landlords who consistently neglect their responsibilities to provide safe and decent accommodation.
“Local authorities currently have a wide range of powers available to them including banning orders for the worst offenders, civil penalties of up to £30,000 and a database of rogue landlords and property agents targeted at the worst persistent and criminal offenders.”
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