Housing minister Grant Shapp states proposals to regulate landlords and permitting agents would introduce 'too much red tape'. Landlords and permitting agents will not be su
bject to bigger regulation for the reason that this would introduce too much additional red tape, the government told today.
Speaking in parliament, housing minister Grant Shapps told he was ignoring the regulations proposed by the preceding government following considerations from the Rugg Review, a report into the private rented sector.
These included the establishment of a national sign in of landlords, regulation of permitting and coping with agents, and compulsory written tenancy arrangements.
Shapps told: "With the extensive majority of England's 3 million. private tenants glad with the service they receive, I am satisfied that the ongoing system strikes the right balance among the rights and duties of tenants and landlords.
"So today I commit a promise to good landlords across the country: the government has no plans to originate any burdensome red tape and bureaucracy, so you are able to carry on providing a service to your tenants."
Instead, Shapps told he expects councils to use the variety of powers accesible to them to tackle "rogue landlords". These include requiring landlords to take action to rectify hazards in their property; where landlords resist, the skill to make and fee for improvements and to prohibit usage of the impacted parts of the property; and discretionary licensing powers to tackle areas blighted by poorly managed privately rented stock.
Earlier this week, in his first speech since becoming housing minister, Shapps told that aspiring homeowners would be at the heart of the government's housing tactic. "I do not agree with my predecessors that reducing homeownership can be a good thing," he notified a room of housing industry representatives on Tuesday. "Most people still need to own their own homes and I need people to know that this government will support them in that."
The Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA) told it was "extremely disappointed" with today's announcement. Operations manager, Ian Potter, told: "This move risks seriously hampering the improvement of standards in the private rented sector, the sector's recognition, and the fundamental role it plays in the wider housing market, and also failing to safe-guard the client who has nowhere to go when there is service failure or deception.
"A minimum requirement must really be client redress and defense of all funds taken from the public, not just tenants deposits."
He added: "Currently, anyone or organisation can become a permitting agent. Until that is altered via national regulation, unprofessional, unqualified and unethical operators will carry on to exist to the detriment and expense of clients and the market as a whole."
The government additionally confirmed that the annual rental threshold for assured and assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs), which cover the majority of rental arrangements in the country, will rise from £25,000 to £100,000. at this time, a person paying rent of more than just through £2,000 a month can't have their rental arrangement covered by an assured shorthold tenancy, giving them less defense. Only deposits paid under AST arrangements are protected by one of the tenancy deposit defense schemes. The convert will come into end result on 1 October.
There are one million landlords in England, closely three-quarters of which are individuals who might be renting a single room out, in keeping with government figures.