New landlord registration scheme to be brought in

Falkirkgal

I am a landlord in Scotland and will be re-registering soon as it is 3 years since the initial registration. Only 75% of landlords have registered and nothing seems to be done regarding those who have not.It cost me around £100 3 years ago.Not sure what the cost will be this time.Haven't seen any benefits at all.

franklee

tbs624 wrote: »

Presumably, if there were a national registration scheme then prosecution for any of those would disbar a LL, but then we go round in circles because there will always be Ts who will continue to rent from those who are failing to register because (a) they don't know that the LL should be registered (b) the LLs rents are much lower than anyone else's and that outweighs any perceived benefit to the T of using a registered LL...(c) they have a poor credit rating and will struggle to get anywhere else.

True but at least the choice would be there for the well informed T to chose a registered L if they want. I'd certainly do that if the option was available in England and be prepared to pay a bit more rent for it just like I'm happy to pay a bit more rent for a better location and good decor etc.

Perhaps it will mean that the dodgy T's get the dodgy L's more often and vice versa when both are prepared to ignore the lack of registration.

tbs624

franklee wrote: »

Perhaps it will mean that the dodgy T's get the dodgy L's more often and vice versa when both are prepared to ignore the lack of registration.

Unfortunately, as ever, I think it will mean that the Ts with the lowest incomes, the ones with the poorest education, and the ones who don't know how to access appropriate support & information will be the ones who end up with the dodgy LLs... and they are not necessarily the ones that I would class as dodgy Ts.

franklee

tbs624 wrote: »

Unfortunately, as ever, I think it will mean that the Ts with the lowest incomes, the ones with the poorest education, and the ones who don't know how to access appropriate support & information will be the ones who end up with the dodgy LLs... and they are not necessarily the ones that I would class as dodgy Ts.

Whatever gets done the tenants with the poorest education, and the ones who don't know how to access appropriate support & information could get left out, unless they're accessing benefits in which case perhaps any kind of housing benefits should only be allowed for registered landlords.

But that doesn't mean registration wouldn't help significant numbers of other tenants who can find out basic information for themselves, thus matching them with the better landlords. So many times tenants who come in here get referred to shelter, cab and the council for what are routine questions and those services must be groaning under all the work. Getting those tenants to better do their own research, avoid the common pitfalls by selecting a good landlord would free up those services to have more time to assist the truly vulnerable.

Most adults should be able to take responsibility for themselves, if they can't any system would fail as there simply aren't enough "free" resources to cope.

rs82uk

This will unfortunately probably never happen, and if it does it probably wont go far enough.
If it did come in it should force landlords to reach a high energy efficiency rating for insulation. And ensure repairs are done quickly

princeofpounds

If the government really wants to improve the private sector one of the first things they could do is have all the necessary regs accessible in one place: how many posts do we get on here saying "I'm a new LL - what do I need to do?" or “I’m a T - can my LL/LA do this?” So we direct people to the websites of the HSE, the tenancy deposit providers, local councils HMO pages, Shelter, other forums, HMRC , National LL Associations.....

For me, this is spot-on. One of the biggest problems with renting is not actually the laws - by and large they are pretty fair (yes, even ASTs!) and provide decent theoretical routes of redress.

The problems all come with practice and implementation - for example, having LA-custody of deposits was an invitation for theft! Having to use courts for deposit recovery was slow and opaque to the ordinary person.

This is dramatically compounded by the fact that very few LL or tenants actually seem to know or understand those rules and how to enforce them! It took me 5 years of renting to stumble across MSE and landlordzone and educate myself.

If people actually knew their rights and responsibilities then things would probably run a lot more smoothly, even letting alone those problems caused by deliberate malice.

I don't entirely place the blame on this at councils or government itself. I think the job of education is for parents and schools, not nannying & ineffective council posters and leaflets. But there is remarkably little thought given to 'learning how to live' in education.

As for registration, I think the devil is in the detail. If the scheme is properly implemented and enforced it will be a step forward, because frankly the lettings industry is open to abuse by all parties and that includes LL and LA (where abuse is often more systematic than individual tenants and so more amenable to regluation). But it might well prove to be toothless or over the top, so we will see.

PROFESSIONAL_LANDLORD

Falkirkgal wrote: »

I am a landlord in Scotland and will be re-registering soon as it is 3 years since the initial registration. Only 75% of landlords have registered and nothing seems to be done regarding those who have not.It cost me around £100 3 years ago.Not sure what the cost will be this time.Haven't seen any benefits at all.

More and more unregistered LLs are being netted by local authorities now!

BritRael

Sammy85 wrote: »

...When will the government be introducing a Tenants Registration scheme? It would be perfect for weeding out those (minority) tenants that move into houses with no intention of paying rent or looking after the property.

I think thats a great idea.

However, a friend of mine (who owns numerous properties in our city) told me it was introduced a few years ago but was subsequently cancelled due to data protection. :rolleyes:

tbs624

Scottish LLs have been required to register since April 2006. Three years on (first lot of renewals will be due up) and then you read a post like this one:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1675159

Clearly not the panacea that some think these schemes will be..................