New protection for tenants

This week, the Government announced plans for new regulations for landlords and letting agents in England.

As part of the overhaul, a ‘light-touch’ national register of every private landlord in England will be introduced in a bid to offer extra protection for vulnerable tenants and to help highlight the performance of good landlords. Landlords will be required to display their registration number on all tenancy agreements.

The Government has also announced plans to introduce a complaints and redress procedure for tenants. If landlords are seen to give a consistently poor performance – such as inadequate maintenance or unreasonable management of deposits – they could find themselves being removed from the register.

Private sector letting agents will also see new regulations, as the Government has proposed creating an independent regulator for all letting and managing agents, who do not currently need to have professional credentials, meaning that is hard for renters and landlords to seek compensation when things don’t go as planned.

In recognition of the rise in repossessions, the Government also revealed that it will be introducing laws to ensure that tenants have at least two months’ notice if they have to leave their home because it is being repossessed.

Peter Vicary-Smith, chief executive of consumer champion Which?, said:

“This is great news for the millions of people around the country who rent private accommodation. For too long tenants have suffered at the hands of unscrupulous landlords and letting agents with little or no redress. You shouldn’t be thrown out of your home at the drop of a hat just because your landlord can’t afford to pay the mortgage. These measures will make that a thing of the past.”

Ian Potter, operations manager of the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), commented:

“This is something we at the Association have long been calling for – increased standards for the consumer. In fact, ARLA launched its own Licensing scheme for letting agents just last week, which has clearly informed the Government’s thinking as all of the points we demanded to be required as a minimum are included in this response.”