Landlord and letting agent fears over the impact of rental reform could be eased if only the industry used rigorous and professional inventories, according to one industry boss.
Nick Lyons, the chief executive of No Letting Go, says: ”[Government] proposals are wide ranging and they do benefit tenants but, in the end, we all want decent homes in the private rental sector and we want a level playing field for both letting agents on the one hand, and tenants on the other.
“This is best achieved through transparency at the outset of a tenancy agreement, regular monitoring throughout its duration and a thorough, detailed inspection when the term comes to an end.”
Government proposals - soon to be formalised in the long-awaited Renters Reform Bill - include a ban on Section 21 eviction powers for landlords, and an extension of the Decent Homes Standard from social housing to the private rental sector.
Also on the agenda are measures to end arbitrary rent review clauses, giving tenants stronger powers to challenge poor practice and so-called “unjustifiable rent increases”. The government also wants to make it illegal for agents or landlords to have blanket bans on renting to families with children or those in receipt of benefits, and wants to make it easier for private tenants to keep pets.
Housing Secretary Michael Gove calls this package of proposals a generational shift in tenant rights in favour of renters who “for too long … have been at the mercy of unscrupulous landlords who fail to repair homes.”
But critics have warned that the proposals might force more property owners to sell-up and leave the sector which has already seen an exodus of landlords in recent years.
Nick Lyons continues: ”What these proposals would do in reality, is take what is already best practice and make it a legal requirement.
“Reputable letting agents already operate at a level which is not threatened by these measures. But as an industry, letting agents and those servicing the sector must make sure that they are meticulous in all aspects of their operations.
“We all want to see tenants living in decent homes. That is true now for the vast majority of tenants in the Private Rented Sector – eight out of 10 private rented homes already achieve or surpass the Decent Homes Standard.
“There are still adequate protections in existence but we have to ensure that protocols and compliance are spot on – this is the last line of defence.
“Critical to that is the preparation of a professionally prepared inventory – agreed and signed off by both parties – to underpin every tenancy agreement and reassure agents and landlords that their properties are valued as homes and treated with due care and respect for the duration of the letting term.”
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PROBLEM: S24, Additional SDLT, EPC C, abolishing S21, abolishing fixed term tenancies, some form of rent cap, rising interest rates, weaker housing market.
SOLUTION: Professional inventories.
I don't think so. What an idiot.
And as for professional inventories anyway....he could produce a lifelike VR copy of the property and the DPS would still side with the tenants so they're of limited use.
You forgot impossible EPC ratings on our older housing stock and flats...
A good inventory will sort out the solid stone walls.
The answer in this article is akin to suggesting that a waterproof membrane could have saved the Titanic… after it hit the big ice cube…. Utter nonsense, landlords are in the firing line, either accept it … or get the hell out… I am out 👍🏻👍🏻
That’s right keep Calm while we are talking to the cleaners by a Housing Secretary who had lived in ‘Grace-in-Favour’ housing that he shouldn’t really be entitled to. Benefited from the Sale of Property which the Tax Payer had subsidised the funding to help him make £870’000 profit nice little earner Mr Gove.
It’s utter rubbish to put a person like this in charge of Landlord / Private Property owners funded by Private Finance and not State owned, at least not yet anyhow. I was a landlord for decades before he was even an MP, so what does he know about lettings in his privileged way of life.
Perhaps the financial implication of a rogue tenant are less personal to a company boss than the average private LL.
Looking around at social housing we have no problem getting to decent housing standards, I do wounder though if these poor standards often have more to do with the people living in the property than the property it's self
Certainly true where mould is concerned.
professional inventory, just another way of taking money out of landlords' pockets after the abolition of tenant fees to give to agents, I do my own inventories, save around 300 £s per tenancy and never had any major issues. But even when I did it never past 300£s so sourcing out to professional inventories are in my mind not cost-effective.
In relation to the subject of inventories resolving all the PRS ills, you have to look at LL today for giving such nonsense air time and allowing this company the platform to advertise and try to influence in such a way!!!
I ask you?
I just walk round with the tenant a video camera and we agree verbally on what we can see. What is better than that as evidence. A pointless piece of paper which is open to interpretation is not worth £300
Peter. The Deposit scheme’s are a farce so much so I have only one, before I used to take Deposits before which they always got them back and I got the property back in much better condition.
Regarding inventories I didn’t make the connection between this and solid walls. There are hundreds of thousands of Victorian Houses (many converted into flats) with solid brick walls that will be extremely difficult to get to EPC requirements, if we clad the outside its an eye sore and cover the beautiful brick work at the front, at the rear we have the drainage and cast iron stack pipes in the way plus roof over hang not enough to cloak the thickness of the cladding, on the inside its a nightmare where kitchen and bathrooms are already fitted and associated electrics, often CH Boiler obviously on the external wall as well. I will leave it at that.
we use a major award winning national letting agent and recently had issues using them for an outgoing and incoming inventory (which they sub contracted to a firm from whom they have admitted they have accepted gifts I have subsequently found out and they have admitted). The terms of the inventory (which differ from the terms of my contract with the letting agency) state that they won't check to see if things are working ie the fridge, the cooker hood which basically makes the inventory worthless if they are found to be not working as then it becomes our word against the tenant. All to often I think letting agents use additional services and a way of generating additional fees. I am waiting for their Final Viewpoint letter so I can put it forward to the ombudsman.
I think LT have rammed a massive square peg into a tiny little round hole with a sledgehammer on this one. Dont see the relevance of the headline, rental reform and inventories, I suspect Nick was talking about something else in his advertorial, perhaps even with someone else, he doesnt even mention landlords until the end.
He's got the same very quotes in Negtotiator where the headline is "Inventories are last line of defence against the RRB" Dont get that either. Its not helpful though for anyone new to this to be left wondering what the hell it all means.
What you pay is what you get. Without 3rd party's inventories and rogue agents, landlords and tenants can work better together to solve the issues and working in a responsible way. Nothing to do with inventories which is a huge cost but end in contractors' pockets and endless dispute with tenants on departure. Personally, we don't think it is wise to let animals live indoors with human beings, for health and sanitation reasons, especially in smaller properties without garden.
Graeme. The letting Agent, Inventory Clerk. Accountant or Solicitor don’t stand in front of you but behind meaning you are always responsible which is how they see landlords. Leave it alone forget about it giving yourself a load of hassle, incidentally have you got your annual Pat test Certificates for the Appliances.
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