I’m not entirely sure how well this scheme will work or how strictly it’ll be enforced. But at this point I’ll take any little bit of potentially good local legislation.
They tried this in Liverpool but if memory serves me correctly the government did all they could to stymie it.
The recently published government white paper proposes a national register of landlords and rented properties –
>A new digital Property Portal will provide a single ‘front door’ to help landlords understand, and demonstrate compliance with, their legal requirements. Too often tenants find out too late that they are renting a substandard property from landlords who wilfully fail to comply, and councils don’t know who to track down when serious issues arise. The Property Portal will provide a simple solution to these issues, with landlords legally required to register their property on the portal.
>
>Local councils will be able to take enforcement action against private landlords that fail to join the portal. By removing unnecessary, frustrating administration, and providing a trusted and consistent intelligence source, council staff will be able to focus on enforcement against criminal landlords.
It’s a start.
Guess who’s rent is going up to cover the license fee?
This sounds great, but in reality it will likely be a revenue stream for the council without any actual inspections and enforcement. The landlords will just pass the cost along to tenants. The worst of both worlds.
It would be better if the licences were free (or a negligible amount) and the council actually invested in an inspection/enforcement team that could be proactive and raise standards.
[deleted]
Lived as a student there. Definitely did not live in a place fit for tenant
As long as it is enforced properly and the criteria is strict, it might work. I can just see enforcement being signed out to Crapita or Asos and what is deemed to be fit will be applied very loosely. A flaming house will be classed as one with heating under them.
this almost sounds like good news, what’s the catch?
Not sure about a fee for the license being a great idea as the cost will likely be passed on to tenants, but licenses should definitely be required
Unfortunately I think the cost of the licenses will probably be passed on to renters 🙁
Landlords should have to get regular mould surveys done on their rentals. My health was damaged by a mouldy flat so I need to live in places with really low levels of mould, but it’s impossible to know based on a viewing – mould can be invisible and in many cases it will be low enough that I will feel fine for a few hours but start to feel unwell after a day or so. By making them publish data, landlords would be incentivized to mitigate this invisible environmental health hazard before it’s too late for the tenants.
It’s time for mandatory nationwide rent caps and laws against keeping houses unoccupied for extended periods.
I’m sick to the back teeth of paying a very significant portion of my monthly pay towards paying the mortgage of a do-nothing scroungelord when I could be putting that money into the actually useful local economy instead.
Ha ha. The house I’m renting would fail.
There’ll be plenty of houses going cheap in Leicester then, it’s often cheaper to sell up than spend the money to make the properties up to standard for the licence.
Anything that makes it harder to be a landlord is a good thing.
It’d be nice if they could work on the landowners clinging wretchedly on to the leases beneath a whole bunch of properties in Leicester too- it sucks to buy a place and still be paying ground rent to these fucks.
I wonder how many council owned houses will fail this, so many are in poor condition
22 comments
I’m not entirely sure how well this scheme will work or how strictly it’ll be enforced. But at this point I’ll take any little bit of potentially good local legislation.
They tried this in Liverpool but if memory serves me correctly the government did all they could to stymie it.
The recently published government white paper proposes a national register of landlords and rented properties –
[https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-fairer-private-rented-sector/a-fairer-private-rented-sector](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-fairer-private-rented-sector/a-fairer-private-rented-sector)
​
>A new digital Property Portal will provide a single ‘front door’ to help landlords understand, and demonstrate compliance with, their legal requirements. Too often tenants find out too late that they are renting a substandard property from landlords who wilfully fail to comply, and councils don’t know who to track down when serious issues arise. The Property Portal will provide a simple solution to these issues, with landlords legally required to register their property on the portal.
>
>Local councils will be able to take enforcement action against private landlords that fail to join the portal. By removing unnecessary, frustrating administration, and providing a trusted and consistent intelligence source, council staff will be able to focus on enforcement against criminal landlords.
It’s a start.
Guess who’s rent is going up to cover the license fee?
This sounds great, but in reality it will likely be a revenue stream for the council without any actual inspections and enforcement. The landlords will just pass the cost along to tenants. The worst of both worlds.
It would be better if the licences were free (or a negligible amount) and the council actually invested in an inspection/enforcement team that could be proactive and raise standards.
[deleted]
Lived as a student there. Definitely did not live in a place fit for tenant
Landloid suicides up 370%
a borough in london has been running this
https://propertyindustryeye.com/newham-council-wins-the-right-to-carry-on-with-its-licensing-scheme-after-a-fight/
As long as it is enforced properly and the criteria is strict, it might work. I can just see enforcement being signed out to Crapita or Asos and what is deemed to be fit will be applied very loosely. A flaming house will be classed as one with heating under them.
this almost sounds like good news, what’s the catch?
Not sure about a fee for the license being a great idea as the cost will likely be passed on to tenants, but licenses should definitely be required
Unfortunately I think the cost of the licenses will probably be passed on to renters 🙁
Landlords should have to get regular mould surveys done on their rentals. My health was damaged by a mouldy flat so I need to live in places with really low levels of mould, but it’s impossible to know based on a viewing – mould can be invisible and in many cases it will be low enough that I will feel fine for a few hours but start to feel unwell after a day or so. By making them publish data, landlords would be incentivized to mitigate this invisible environmental health hazard before it’s too late for the tenants.
It’s time for mandatory nationwide rent caps and laws against keeping houses unoccupied for extended periods.
I’m sick to the back teeth of paying a very significant portion of my monthly pay towards paying the mortgage of a do-nothing scroungelord when I could be putting that money into the actually useful local economy instead.
Ha ha. The house I’m renting would fail.
There’ll be plenty of houses going cheap in Leicester then, it’s often cheaper to sell up than spend the money to make the properties up to standard for the licence.
Anything that makes it harder to be a landlord is a good thing.
It’d be nice if they could work on the landowners clinging wretchedly on to the leases beneath a whole bunch of properties in Leicester too- it sucks to buy a place and still be paying ground rent to these fucks.
I wonder how many council owned houses will fail this, so many are in poor condition
Don’t landlords have to do this anyway?