13% of private rented properties have category 1 hazards – Damned lies and statistics

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10:15 AM, 25th April 2022, About 3 years ago 14

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I’ve just read an article by Nearly Legal, based on a parliamentary report he had read, and I wondered about the statistics being quoted, e.g. 13% of private rented homes have a category 1 hazard.

I clicked on the link to the parliamentary report and it gives this percentage as an ESTIMATE. Looking deeper it says it is based on another report (by the NAO), so I looked at that and that too is based on an estimate. Further on in the NAO report, it says that the figure is from an analysis of data from the English Housing Survey, which appears, to take their figures from the data estimates supplied by local authorities based on inspections carried out by local authorities.

The 13% figure appears to be an average percentage of private rented properties that have been inspected by local authority inspectors that were found (upon inspection) to have category 1 hazards, i.e. NOT a snapshot of all private rented properties.

Of course, the properties actually inspected by councils are not a snapshot of all private rented properties, they are only the ones that have been reported (usually by tenants) to the local authority as having hazards.

This would indicate that as perhaps 95% of private rented properties are not inspected by the local authority, and in most likelihood may have no category 1 hazards (otherwise councils would be inspecting them), then the 13% figure cannot possibly be fairly said to apply to all private rented sector homes.

I don’t know what percentage of the total is actually inspected, but if for example it is 5% that are inspected (95% not inspected), then the number of private rented properties ACTUALLY FOUND TO HAVE Category 1 hazards, would be 13% of the 5% = 0.65% of the total.

Simply saying “13% of private rented homes have a category 1 hazard” would be a gross and dishonest distortion of the facts, if, as seems to be the case, the figures are based on the LA’s estimated percentage of private rented properties they’ve inspected which have then been found to have category 1 hazards.

Although there may be a few with category 1 hazards that are never brought to the attention of the local authority, the number is likely to be small, as a category 1 hazard is a serious defect that the vast majority of tenants would report. It may therefore be more like 1 – 1.5%, rather than 0.65% of private rented homes that have a category 1 hazard, but it is certainly nowhere near the 13% that is being reported to parliament (and upon which they will base future housing policies, and additional regulations to impose upon private landlords).

Robert

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Chris @ Possession Friend

9:15 AM, 26th April 2022, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Laura Delow at 26/04/2022 - 09:10@Laura
My suggestion to All the smaller Landlord Associations and groups that made up the ' Fair Possession Coalition ' ( about 12, including ARLA ) was to match the Renters Coalition, by forming a Landlords Coalition.
Basically it would mean representation of over a Million landlords, instead of the NRLA's 90k
Existing groups would remain, with a steering committee, meeting virtually, say biannually
of three, that would change over every three years.
Unfortunately, there was limited appetite for it. !

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Old Mrs Landlord

10:26 AM, 26th April 2022, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Luke P at 25/04/2022 - 12:30But unless the price of electricity is adjusted to be more competitive with gas for the same amount of heat, heat pumps will remain more expensive to run than GCH. That's just running costs with no account taken of the thermal modifications and insulation costs to make heat pumps more than just background heating. The plain fact is that we will know nothing until the long-promised review of the seriously flawed EPC system is published laying out the requirements for rented properties. Call me cynical, but I rather suspect the powers that be will keep landlords in limbo on that until after the repeal of Section 21 in order to restrict our options..

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Seething Landlord

11:37 AM, 26th April 2022, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Laura Delow at 26/04/2022 - 09:10
It is clear from appendix 2 of the report that virtually all data sources have been considered and to challenge the findings you would need to provide more accurate data than is currently available. How are you going to do that, inspect every privately rented property in the country?

One of the problems is that we tend to only see things from our own perspective and because our properties do not have any defects or hazards we assume that this is representative of the PRS as a whole, which those involved in dealing with rogue landlords see as totally unjustified complacency.

Personally I have no idea whether 13% of properties actually have serious hazards and neither does any other landlord but the English Housing Survey from which this figure is drawn uses conventional sampling procedures which are generally accepted to produce a reasonably accurate result.

The percentage is not as some have suggested based upon local authority inspections but on results from a random sample of private addresses.

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Chris @ Possession Friend

9:42 AM, 28th April 2022, About 3 years ago

Nobody has yet woken up to the reality, that French are being charged an Extra ' 4 ' % for their Electricity by EDF and British EDF consumers are paying 50% More.
In simple terms, British EDF customers are SUBSIDISING French electricity prices.
Boycott EDF.

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