Buy to let landlord registration will have 'little effect'

Introduce a national registration system for landlords will not have the required effect, fears Landlord Assist, the nationwide tenant eviction and rent collection service.

Plans being floated by the Government would require all private landlords to be registered before being permitted to let residential property. They would also have to pay a registration fee – perhaps £50 to start with at least – and have to comply with certain standards. Those who failed to carry out repairs or who intimidate tenants could be struck off.

The plans, which are expected to be included in a forthcoming Green Paper, follow a move by Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA) to introduce a similar voluntary licensing initiative.

However, Landlord Assist believes that further costs to landlords will affect those who enter the market and also the choice of rental property available.

Graham Kinnear, Managing Director at Landlord Assist, questions whether any further legislation is required.

He says: “Landlords are already facing reams of legislation, and further registration schemes will only deter people from entering the market.

“There is legislation in place to ensure that landlords comply with gas and electrical checks, legislation for failure to provide an energy performance certificate plus legislation surrounding the correct operation of HMO licences (Houses in Multiple Occupation) and the treatment of tenants deposits.

Indeed there is also legislation surrounding the actions of letting agents that act on landlords’ behalf.”

Stephen Parry of Landlord Assist is of the opinion that correct and consistent enforcement of existing legislation will address the issues of ‘unscrupulous landlords’.

He said: “Every day we deal with landlord and tenant issues and it is clear that there are as many unscrupulous tenants as there are landlords and yet the continuous barrage of legislation seems only to penalise the landlord.”

Charles Peak-Smylie, the founder of TrustedLets, the website that provides a free service enabling landlords and tenants to develop a reputation by rating each other, is also doubtful about the government’s proposed scheme.

He said: “The aim is to identify and improve poorly performing landlords, yet these are precisely the people who will not apply for a licence. The experience of many landlords of HMO licensing is that the good landlords comply, the bad landlords evade.

“We believe that the vast majority of landlords and tenants are honest and trustworthy. We shall, like all UK landlords and those interested in residential property, await the Green Paper with interest.