Residential landlords call for self regulation to replace local authority control

Responsible landlords who are part of an approved accreditation scheme should be allowed to regulate themselves rather than be subject to local authority control, the Residential Landlords Association has argued.

Local authorities could then “concentrate their limited resources on those landlords who flaunt regulations and do a disservice to the private rented sector and their tenants”, it added in a submission to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who had called on business to identify laws that should be removed or changed.

The RLA said landlords would still be required to comply with the same legal requirements – only the means of enforcement would change.

Aside from promoting the case for self regulation, the association also called on the Deputy Prime Minister to look at eight other areas:

• Power of entry: In appropriate cases, local authority officials have powers to enter residential accommodation without notice. Where notice is needed, landlords, not simply occupiers, should be made aware when their rented property is being entered. “At the moment council officials try to circumvent legal requirements by relying on permission from someone they find at the property – which has been criticised by residential property tribunals,” the RLA said. “Officials should have to go through proper procedures.”
• Tenancy deposit information: Under the 2004 Housing Act a landlord or agent receiving a deposit is required to give detailed information to the tenant. The RLA said this could be “much simplified”.
• Tenancy deposit penalty: There is an automatic ‘three-times’ penalty if a landlord or agent fails to protect the deposit or give prescribed information to the tenant. But there is no power to mitigate the penalty – whatever the level of minor mistake or wilful flouting – and this is “grossly unfair”, the RLA said. “Someone who is the victim of a mistake by the scheme is penalised in the same way as a landlord who deliberately fails to protect the deposit. The court should have more discretion according to the circumstances.”
• Obtaining possession: Under Section 21 of the 1988 Housing Act landlords have to automatically obtain a court order to obtain possession from an assured shorthold tenant. The purpose of this is to protect the tenant from ‘do-it-yourself’ evictions. “This procedure should be abolished as protection can be given more simply and cheaply, without having to get a court order, using a licensed bailiff instead,” the association argued.
• Obtaining possession where the landlord has the right to get the property back: At the moment, if landlords with non-shorthold assured tenancies want possession they have to obtain court orders, which involves appearances at court. The RLA pointed to an existing paper procedure that would avoid the need for a hearing, unless the claim was contested. “This right should extend to cover cases where the court has no option but to give a possession order – such as where an owner occupier has let out his own property and wants it back,” it said.
• Evicting squatters: “Landlords of all rented residential accommodation should be able to evict squatters without the need to obtain a court order,” the RLA said. “They should be entitled to use an existing different procedure involving licensed bailiffs.”
• Fire safety: “Fire safety legislation for residential accommodation is extremely complex and deciding which laws apply can be a nightmare,” according to the RLA. This resulted from two pieces of legislation being taken through Parliament at the same time and “no one tried to mesh them together”. Residential property could be more simply dealt with under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System and, where applicable, the relevant legislation governing houses in multiple occupation.
• Administration charges: Under the 2002 Commonhold Leasehold Reform Act notice has to be given where an administration charge is made. “This was really meant to cover long leasehold properties but it has also been applied to short term residential lets – which was really an unintended consequence,” the RLA said. “Tenants of short term lets are protected anyway under consumer legislation so assured tenancies and shortholds should be exempt from this requirement.”

RLA chairman Alan Ward, chairman of the Residential Landlords Association, said: “The new government has shown a very welcome willingness to cut back on the amount of legislation that has crippled our business sector over the last few years.

“We believe that more effective answers can be found in local accreditation schemes to encourage a new generation of professional landlords who are better trained, better informed and better able to regulate our business, themselves, without the excessive burden of increasing legislation.

“Like many other businesses a huge raft of legislation has built up surrounding the private rented sector. Landlords are normally small business people, often part time, and they can easily be tripped up and penalised by complex regulations. At the end of the day, these do little or nothing to protect tenants anyway.”