You may have read about Newham Council in recent press who are proposing to introduce compulsory licensing for all Landlords in the borough from the 1st January 2013.
The compulsory licensing, should it go ahead, will affect all private Landlords, who will be required to purchase a 5 year license which will cost between £300 and £500 depending on how early they register for it. This license would see landlords proving that they are “fit to be landlords”.
The Council are looking to introduce this as a way of ensuring that private sector rented properties are well managed and meet the required standards. They are looking to eradicate tenants living in poorly maintained properties with Landlords who are not meeting their basic obligations. Properties will have to meet the outlined basic standards and provide proof that they have the requisite certificates for gas safety and electrical appliances. Landlords will also have to ensure all tenants have written tenancy agreements, undertake maintenance properly and deal with anti-social behaviour where this occurs.
The licensing of landlords has already been piloted on a small scale in the borough’s Little Ilford Neighbourhood Improvement Zone which achieved 100% compliance following enforcement action against a small number of non-compliant landlords.
What do you think? Will this punish the rogue landlords, and how will it impact compliant landlords who manage properties responsibly?
*It would seem that this is a good idea! Or at least something that is now being made compulsory for certain councils. It’s already compulsory in Scotland, we’re developing our own scheme in wALES and England have now begun rolling it out in councils.
Read the recent BBC news article here
When choosing your agents to let your properties to rent or buys, you must be aware of them that they must be trustworthy and registered.
Offical regulation is a long time overdue, its been spoken about by the previous Housing Minister & i believe that the new Housing Minister has it on the agenda for some kind of complusory regulation. I guess the main problem is through which body or do they create another new one? If its done at a council level like HMO licencing it doesnt nescarily mean that they will have to be part of ARLA, NALS etc they just have to have some form of compliance.
In my view a regulator should be appointed with standard complaince such as compulsory liability insurance, sufficant client money protection insurance, a customer charter & complaints handling procedure, fair charging policy and a compulsory redress scheme, for landlords or tenants wishing to make a claim against the agent.
@Kevin Winchester @WinchLettings
Thank you very much for your comment Kevin, a very interesting and current topic for landlords and agents alike.