Recommendations to government for a post section 21 PRS

Reply to the comment left by Old Mrs Landlord at 25/05/2022 - 23:15
I read the Exec Summary, and to be honest, it's stating the..... obvious [and I was there 18 months ago!].

If the MoJ was serious about doing something innovative, it would have taken my proposition seriously. Instead, it is rolling out its own 'new' Courts system [at a huge cost] and will not consider any deviation which addresses events over the past 2 years, and which had not been considered when their system was specified, because it was simply I conceivable.

Reply to the comment left by Peter Gill at 26/05/2022 - 09:35
Far too sensible an idea, Peter!

Reply to the comment left by Chris Bradley at 25/05/2022 - 10:40
They will never go after tenant's...the landlord is the one they consider to have money (the let property is likely at least a second house) and its not about what's fair or just is simply about who can pay. Even if they had a tenant's list with penalties they would never enforce them I'm afraid.

No mention of “Lifetime Deposits”
……ha ha ha !

Reply to the comment left by Chris Bradley at 25/05/2022 - 10:40
We all know the story and have been commenting and lamenting about it for many months and I wish I felt confidant about the outcome to this report/ reform but, having just read this post I thought doesn't that just say it all !
This is a two way street and whats good for the goose should be good for the gander and in my experience tenants do not always follow what they should to look after a property and even the AST does not incentivise them sufficiently because, at the end of the day, you are stuck with the 'opinion' of the deposit holders. Wear and tear is often what 'neglect' is classified as but it costs the landlord a lot to rectify and it is not always ideal to have to keep reminding tenants about how to look after and live in a property especially if you happen to also be a neighbour.
There should be some element introduced to make very clear to tenants that they need to acknowledge and follow the rules or it will cost them and make it easier for landlords to recover these costs rather than fight it out at the end.

I keep saying what’s the problem ? If tenant is issued with a Section 21 they can simply find another property and will have two months notice to find one. Never been a problem before. If they’ve been a good tenant, paid rent on time etc there’s no reason for them to not find another suitable home.
So what exactly is the problem here ? Ahhh……the real problem is the shortage of rental properties and NOT Section 21. This is what should be being addressed not the removal of Section 21 which solves nothing. Of course it’s easier to blame Section 21 than to increase the supply of rental units.
And on another matter……..according to the Bank Of England and the Fed inflation is just transitory you know !!

I’m sorry but if you think government is looking at this to make landlords and tenants lives better then you need to understand the government’s goal is to get renter’s to be home owners so when you read what they are wanting to do then read backwards to see how it helps achieve that goal

This is a repost of my comment on Ben Beadle's posting on the NRLA's call for property passports
Please note, I drafted this a few days ago before The Lettings Industry Council posted their recommendations.

Much of what they have suggested matches the expectations laid out below and it is good to see that they have taken a wider view by including rent to rent and short term lets/furnished holiday lets
Look out
- if you've not been paying attention, we will get a version of this, whether you want it or not.
I've lost count of the number of posts on mandatory, additional and selective licencing schemes and their associated fees. With the Government now threatening to level up the rental market by bringing the PRS under the Decent Homes Standard, it doesn't take much imagination to see the direction of travel will be to match Wales and Scotland by requiring all rental properties to be certified.
I'm not suggesting that the NRLA's proposal is the way to go, but there would be some benefits if all rental properties had to be certified on a periodic basis and the relevant documents were available online, in the same way that EPCs are.
iHowz worked with Southampton Council several years ago to get them to take a different approach when they wanted loadsa money to bring in additional licencing. They were eventually persuaded to allow landlords to get an independent inspection and submit the paperwork for each inspected property when they applied for a licence. https://ihowz.uk/southampton-licensing/
The advantages:
- licencing costs are significantly lower
- all properties are inspected (not just those they bother to select)
- landlords control the inspection process, ensuring it is inspected in the condition they have provided it
- landlords can schedule their inspections, keeping costs and disruption to a minimum as a group of properties can be inspected together
- the council can concentrate their efforts on those who fail to licence their properties
Recent years have brought a succession of laws and other regulation for the PRS, meaning smaller landlords in particular have found the administrative burden and other compliance aspects have seemed overwhelming.
Excluding HMO/licencing specific requirements, we now need to ensure we comply with the following, or risk fines and difficulties when we try to recover possession:
- Fit for Habitation (including Legionella and HHSRS)
- Furniture and Furnishings Regulations
- EPC certification (E or better / exemption)
- Electrical Safety
- Gas Safety
- Fire and CO precautions (additional requirements from this Autumn)
- Right to Rent Checks
- How to Rent Guide
- Inventory
- Deposits and Protection
Much of this documentation has to be provided to each tenant and evidenced. If this was available on a portal, which your tenant had to log on to at the commencement of the tenancy, it would allow electronic confirmation. Landlords would only need to download data once and only have to reload it in exceptional circumstances, as periodic independent tests could be updated by testing organisations (EPC, gas, electric), Government guides would be automatically linked and landlords could be reminded of any other obligations, such as testing alarms.
Taking things a step further, such a register would provide a tool to drive out landlords who rent non-compliant properties, either by checking that a property was registered before a tenant could claim housing benefits or flagging up an inspection for any property not on the register. No doubt, it would also be used by insurers and lenders to help price their products. Who knows, Government might even use it to identify recipients of grants for energy efficiency measures !!
We don't want more costs or Big Brother, I hear many of you scream as you reach to click the Reply button.
To that I say, the costs of such a scheme should be lower than existing licencing, and would take the politics out of it, as the core elements are national standards and the database could built and administered by commercial organisations, in a similar manner to the deposit schemes, using Open Source data from Government and inspection organisations.
A certified rental property register would be a tool that provides landlords the ability to check that they are renting a compliant property and document that their tenant has been provided the required information. This would help ensure that landlords can regain possession while robbing Shelter / tenant unions of much of their commentary about standards in the PRS. Assuming that this could be achieved for £75 or less a year for each property it would only represent an additional cost equivalent to £1.50 pw, which is significantly less than most licencing schemes and many property management tools, never mind the cost of a failed possession hearing.
If we don't take control of the licencing and certification agenda and drive the decision-making, we can guarantee that the Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities will force a far worse alternative on us.
Lastly, I know some of you don't see the point of forking out less than £100 a year to join a landlord association, but there are about 2.2 million landlords with properties in England and less than 180,000 belong to a landlord association. That's less than 1 in 12 landlords who belong to a trade association.
How can you expect to get our voice heard at national and local level?
(Some of you have already made this point.)
I know some of you wish the NRLA stood up to Government a bit more. We'd love to have you join iHowz or you could join one of the other more regional associations. With the Renters Reforms and other changes to property law on their way, now is the time to join up and help us get your voice heard.
https://ihowz.uk/join/#membership
iHowz will be contacting TLIC to see how we and other landlord associations can represent their member's interest in helping shape any proposals.