A petition created by the Generation Rent group of activists and seeking a national landlord register appears to be struggling to win signatures.

The campaign group – led by Baroness Alicia Kennedy – has been actively promoting the petition for some weeks on social media; to date it has only around 7,800 of the target of 10,000 signatures it set itself.

The group has been linking its social media pleas for signatures to articles in the mainstream press concerning rogue landlords. 

Generation Rent’s comments on the petition are particularly aimed at small-scale landlords, who it suggests may not be diligent at conducting safety checks. 

The group says: “You don’t have to pass a test to become a landlord – all you need is a spare property. Most landlords are small scale operators – 83 per cent have four or fewer properties – and most of those are not part of professional industry bodies or accreditation schemes that can give them support or rent safely.”

And it goes on to say that landlords of any kind not registering on a national register should face prosecution.

“We, the undersigned, call on the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [sic] to help local authorities identify and prosecute criminal landlords, protect tenants from exploitation and improve the reputation of professional and law-abiding landlords by introducing a national register of landlords.”

The petition, which requires signatories’ addresses and names, is accompanied by a request for the campaign to send them emails if they are interested.

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