Comments on: Landlord Licencing – Why Residential Management Needs It

By: Sharon

Sharon — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:39:14 +0000

Hi TPwhy,
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I think that whilst cost may be a factor, the cost for having a licence would only be a fraction of what they achieve in profits.
There seem to be two issues here: one that they don’t want to belong to a membership organisation or attain accreditation (based on their response to the Law Commission proposals in 2008).
The second, and to my mind the main one, is that they don’t seem to want to be visible across the board, thereby being the main cause of the fragmentation that is the private rental sector.

By: TPwhy a

TPwhy a — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:39:20 +0000

Landlords are adverse to the idea as it will cost them. Landlords i have ever known are only interested in the bottom line, full stop. You can tlet landlords decide anything as you know the way it will go. If it costs, lets not bother

By: Sue

Sue — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:36:34 +0000

I can obviously not comment about other LAs only the one i work in. It probably does vary and will depend on managers etc but mine is very good and woould have probably helped if we could in the scenario you describe

If there is a good reason he does take a common sense approach and i would guess he would of happily given you this information if you had sensibly requested it in an appropriate manner etc etc

By: Sharon

Sharon — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:56:44 +0000

Hi Dan,
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
It’s the landlord lobby groups that don’t want licencing although in fairness to them they were broadly in favour of the initial suggestion that came from the Rugg Review. It’s the Government expanding on this that has caused the resistance. Having said that it should be remembered how the private rental sector and the residential management sector interact with each other. Both need a more solid platform to work from and the licence would go some way to providing just that.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:50:29 +0000

Hi Sue,
Thanks for offering a comment.
I have no idea how LA’s feel about the issue because my block is a private development. In all fairness I have to say I did later get some information from them but only when my local councillor stepped in.Unfortunately that turned out to be erroneous and Data protection was quoted when I requested a correction.

I’m interested in the fact that you would supply information if a’formal application’ and ‘evidence of the issues’ was submitted as this was never suggested by our particular council.

Whilst it is to be expected that the information would perhaps not be provided to just anyone, we expected that when requested from either a legally recognised company, such as our RTM company, or the managing agents we employ to act on our behalf,it would be given. We were very surprised to be advised that our council didn’t need to know about anything about our management structure.

I contacted the Information Commissioners Office as a matter of curiosity and was advised that it should not have been withheld if the request was reasonable, which, when required simply from a management perspective, would surely meet this requirement.

Yet another reason why we need some basic information at the outset.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:38:01 +0000

Hi Incensed
Thanks for taking the time to offer your comments.
I can’t make the case for those of us that want licencing any clearer than I have already have and on a number of occasions. You make the point of people wanting to make money out of landlords and ask when will it stop?

I have to ask though, what about the incentives that private landlords get, such as for example, when they enter the Private Sector Leasing Schemes providing them with a guaranteed income regardless of whether the property is tenanted or not?

Having dealt with the problems a so called ‘rogue’ freehold landlord brought us, in the form of being forced to take over management, we now have the associated problems that so called ‘rogue’ landlords bring. On entering my 7th year of of trying to improve the fortunes of our block of flats (6 of those unpaid) I don’t think its unreasonable to expect those that choose to go into a business to make money to be compelled to provide some basic information!

By: Sue

Sue — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:32:42 +0000

I am suprised to hear your local council would not provide you with the information you requested Sharon. We would of supplied it if a formal application was made with good reason and evidence of the issues you describe.

I am involved in a LA private register for landlords who want to be associated with our scheme, though i can see the advantages of a centrally managed national database. What is the feedback from the landlord associations?

By: Incensed

Incensed — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:58:03 +0000

So you want landlords to ALL be registered and monitored further. Maybe they could just attach CCTV to our lapels to cover times when we are not dealing with our properties.

The only winners out of increased regulation is for those collecting the fees from enforced memebership schemes/scams. Everyone seems to want to make money outr of landlords, when will it stop?

By: Dan Hartley

Dan Hartley — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:39:10 +0000

Landlords are notorious about complaining about costs and spending. Lets face it landlord ing is a business and a professional requirement on all aspects is loing overdue by some.

Is a landlord register really such a big issue or so problematic? who is it that is anti landlord register and what makes them so.