Landlords interested in a tenants perspective of renting could do worse than read Penny Andersons blog about renting in Manchester called Rentergirl.
Penny has recently called for greater and tighter regulation of landlords. She urges in a recent piece in the Guardian that:
"Landlords must be educated about their duties when they register, but more should be said about sanctions for failing to do so, and what it takes to be struck off. The response proposes some sort of renting tribunal, but it must be powerful and feared by all. Otherwise, I can see no point of a register without teeth for biting bad landlords."
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In some ways I do agree. If you are going to regulate, do it properly and not through a pointless register of landlords. I still as it happens believe that the downside of regulation will be greater than any positive spin offs and so would a pose mandatory licensing of landlords in any shape or form. In particular I completely object to the proposed landlord's register as a complete waste of time and imposition on law abiding landlords.
Register of renters
So Penny, you like the idea of landlords being controlled. How about licensing for tenants? Why not a register of tenants that would have to be paid for by each tenant before they can rent a property. If they have shown to have failed to pay the rent, vandalised property, been evicted, etc then they would be banned from the list. Not so funny when the tenant has to 'cough up' money just to do what is their right, to rent a property.
Are there any winners from more 'red tape'?
The reality is that we could go on and on with more a more registers, licences, control. The reality is that the vast majority of law abiding citizens will get strangled by 'red tape', whilst the really bad continue to evade control.
The only winners in all this are the bureaucrats who get a nice cushy job and pension and the lawyers who have yet another piece of legislation that they can charge lots of money to people to try and unravel.
This is don't think is what landlords or tenants ultimately want or deserve.
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Tenants already have to "cough up money just to do what is their right - rent a property" when they pay agencies for reference checks.
ReplyDeleteIf landlords would pay for checks to be made on them before renting a property then I can see no strong need for a register of landlords either.
Hi Chris. You recently posted a reccomendation that landlords should check tenants place on the electoral register, as well as asking for eons worth of bank statements, and yet landlords, already demanding references from banks, employers, and promises from guarantors, need not provide even the slightest assurance that they can pay the mortgage (my own landlord went bankrupt). I believe that landlords should also be compelled to pay an amount equal to their tenants levy into the Deposit Protection scheme. this sum will be forefit to the tenant if landlords: fail to do repairs, initimidate tenants (eg by moving thugs into the propety, or letting themelves in without prior arrangement) or go bankrupt, or fail to fulfill a supposed long-term tenancy by invoking spurious vacant possession claims, etc. And a register would help: at the moment, when such misbehaviour occurs, tenants move rather than sue, and landlords carry on regardless. See the excellent Nearly Legal blogposts about landlords on The Naughty Step. See also Shelter, and CAB for instances of retaliatory evictions. When landlord act illegally, tenants are often homeless. This should appear on a register. Where tenants misbehave, landlords lose money. The danger is not the same, and yet landlords are protected and cossetted.
ReplyDeleteHi Penny. Thanks for your comments.
ReplyDeleteI would say that we approach this from slightly ideological opposite ends of the spectrum. I intrinsically believe that people are good and most will do the right thing and get along if left to their own devices providing their is an adequate legal framework for redress.
Yours seems to be that if we have boxes to be ticked, lists, standards then nothing bad will happen.
I don't agree. You mention about your landlord becoming bankrupt - i'm not sure how any register / licence could stop this happening.
You mention about example of landlords letting themselves in or failing to carry out repairs. There is already very powerful bits of legislation that control harassment including the Protection from Eviction Act 77 and the Housing Act 88.
I would guarantee that if we had a register or licence tomorrow we would still get horrendous cases of landlords trying to house migrant workers 10 to the room.
Those who would suffer are not the hideous landlords but the law abiding honest landlords who will duly sign up and pay the licence fee and then try and pass the costs on to their tenants.
As I said, the only winners in any scheme will be the lawyers and the bureaucrats. Real tenants and real landlords will be left feeling they have both been cheated yet again!