Print

New era for the private rental sector

Catherine Deshayes

The Law Commission recommends drastic reforms  for the private rental sector in its latest report 

With almost 2.6 million homes in England being rented from over half a million private landlords, regular reforms are key to keeping the private rental sector healthy.

The British Property Federation (BPF) has supported the Law Commision's planned reforms and, although it believes that there is no shortage of regulation already in the sector, what it needs is investment and not more under-resourced regulation.

Ian Fletcher, Residential Director of the BPF said, "The BPF broadly welcomes the Law Commission's report because we want a better standard of rental housing for people that would encourage greater investment and spur on more build to let development.

"The main problem with improving standards is a shortage of funding for enforcement. Local councils just do not have sufficient staffing or money, something which simply shifting the function to other bodies will not resolve.

"We oppose enforced self-regulation, because it will only ever make ‘good' landlords better and ‘bad' landlords worse.

"The good, who are traceable, will generally always comply, while the bad ones will always stay off the radar.

"We support voluntary accreditation, backed up by tax incentives, to rapidly increase its use and we advocate having a trade body led accreditation schemes and therefore maintain brand confidence.

"We are equally supportive of the suggested MOT for rental accommodation, providing it simplifies landlords' existing commitments and therefore the suggested pilot is a good way forward.

"The rental market has the potential to provide truly affordable, long term accommodation for millions. The BPF wants to see tenants treated as customers and with the right balance of legislation, investment and political will, this should be a possibility," Mr Fletcher added.

As the third and final part in its series on housing law reform, the Law Commission's latest report, Housing: Encouraging Responsible Letting, follows wide consultation with both landlords and tenants.

It focuses on improving the overall coherence and stability of the current private rental framework in a cost-effective way.

The proposals outlined in the report include creating a housing standards monitor (for each of England and Wales) for the private rented sector, developing a single code of housing management practice for landlords and making landlord accreditation schemes available in every local authority area.

David Salusbury, Chairman of the National Landlords Association, (NLA) the largest representative body for landlords in the UK, said, "The NLA welcomes many of the staged reforms the Law Commission proposes.

"In fact, further enhancing good practice to build on voluntary self-regulation can only be a good thing for both landlords and tenants. We are pleased to see the recognition that local authorities have an important role to play in the enforcement of regulation.

"It is critical to assess this report alongside the other reports and consultations to ensure we break this 'piecemeal' approach to the private-rented sector.

"Furthermore, although it is true that landlord association can only claim to represent a relatively small number of landlords, there is the question of portfolio size.

"The average NLA members has 10 properties and, since our latest merger with the National Federation of Residential Landlords, (NFRL) we now have 20,000 members, this means the NLA now looks after the interests of 200,000 individual lettings. This figure is a substantial part of the entire private-rented sector," Mr Salusbury added.