Welcome to our new blog, The Rent Book.
It’s been an eventful few weeks in the world of private renting. First a (small) victory: the revenge eviction amendment to the Deregulation Bill passed the final hurdle yesterday – hooray! This means that from October 2015, private renters will be protected against some types of revenge eviction for six months after making a complaint. Not all types of revenge eviction, mind: it will still be perfectly legal for your landlord to use a Section 21 to evict you for speaking, breathing, having the wrong face or simply because it’s Tuesday and they just, you know, feel like it – but if you’ve told your council about a serious repair issue, and the council has issued your landlord with an improvement notice, you’ll be safe for six months. Phew!
Hang on, didn’t that Bill fail recently?
You’re thinking of the Tenancy Reform Bill, which two Tory backbenchers filibustered out of the Commons back in November. Luckily, the government felt the issue was important enough to allow it to be slipped in to another Bill, et voila. Campaign ‘wins’ are a little bit like terrorist attacks in that every group under the sun claims credit for them, but hats off to Shelter (who give more details here) and everyone else who helped campaign for it, including local renters’ groups.
Bad news for councils
Less good is the news that the rules have suddenly changed for councils that want to introduce landlord licensing. On one hand, it’s good: councils no longer have to jump through the weird hoop that meant they had to show there was anti-social behaviour in an area – a requirement that was always a bit of an insult to renters – before they could start a licensing scheme. Instead, they can base it on poor housing conditions – which is much better. But on the other hand, they now have to seek permission from the Secretary of State, making it much harder to introduce.
Why does that matter?
A landlord licence is a bit like a driving licence: you might own a car, but you have to follow rules about how you drive it so you don’t harm others. A landlord licence requires a landlord to make sure their tenants’ home meets basic standards. It also allows the council to find out who their local private landlords are (which is currently tricky, as there’s no public register), and it allows the renter to know more about their landlord – like whether or not they’ve got a criminal record. Crucially, it allows under-resourced councils to use the civil, rather than the criminal, legal system to prosecute dodgy landlords – which means it takes less time and the fines are big enough to actually deter landlords from acting outside the law (in the criminal system, the fines are sometimes so small that some landlords consider them simply a ‘business expense.’)
In London, Newham was the first borough to start licensing in 2013. Waltham Forest is set to be the second, starting next month. Other London councils (including Camden, Hackney, Islington, Brent and Enfield) have made moves to introduce the scheme too, but some have backed off recently after one landlord in Enfield challenged the council’s decision. Like some other landlords, he objected to paying £50 per year and meeting basic standards.
Local renting campaigners can improve conditions by reporting unlicensed landlords to their council, or, if there isn’t a licensing scheme in place, encouraging their council to start one.
RLA advises landlords to ignore the law
Landlord lobbying group the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) demonstrated their high professional standards yesterday by publishing their ‘ten tips for landlords,’ much to the amusement of housing lawyers. Tip 8 advises landlords to kick off a respectful relationship with a new tenant by issuing an advance Section 21 on day one of their tenancy – a practice that the Deregulation Bill outlawed yesterday. Tip 6, rather creepily, advises landlords to make an unannounced visit to the prospective tenant’s current address to have a snoop around – regardless of the fact that this could constitute harassment or trespassing; both criminal offences. Even more bizarre is their warning (tip 5) that landlords should avoid tenants who have previously lived with their parents, which rules out an awful lot of people. Rather sweetly, they invite readers to share their own tips, which you can do on Twitter at @RLA_News.
Remember, a Section 21 notice is invalid if your deposit has not been protected in a recognised protection scheme, and landlords have no automatic right to enter your home, no matter who owns it. See our Know Your Rights page for more info, or call Shelter’s free London Advice Centre on 0344 515 1540. They are open from 9am until 5pm from Monday to Friday.
Organise a local housing hustings
With just 50 days to go until the General Election, lots of local renters groups are organising housing hustings so they can grill their parliamentary candidates on how they plan to make renting fair. Not sure how to do it? Our friends at Generation Rent have put together a handy guide and a listings page. We’re compiling a list of questions that private renters might want to ask – email with your suggestions.
Tell the government what it’s like to rent on a low income
Now that 2 in 5 Londoners who live below the poverty line after housing costs are private renters, the Competition and Markets Authority have finally begun to wonder if, perhaps, there’s a tiny chance that the unregulated rental market isn’t working. They’ve invited private renters on low incomes to share their experiences here.