Bureaucrats not ready yet for rental reform, insists landlord boss

The National Residential Landlords Association has made a blistering attack on a “big bureaucratic and unaccountable beast” at the heart of a rental sector reform programme.

NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle makes the outspoken attack on the Rent Smart Wales operation, run by the Welsh Government. 

The NRLA has received calls from landlords who are concerned with Rent Smart Wales’ decision to close its phone line service due to a backlog of work, recruitment problems and high staff sickness levels. 

Rent Smart Wales’ website warns landlords that the failure to provide a telephone service “may be the case for some time.” 

RSW has told NRLA:  “Our telephone line is currently closed as we do not have sufficient staff to deal with the resource needs across the service. We have had to prioritise resources to ensure that the services we do provide are to a good standard and that processing activities can also continue.  

“The recruitment and retention of new staff is an issue across all sectors in Wales in recent months. Be assured however that we are doing everything we can to encourage job applications and to train new recruits as quickly as possible. 

“Our customers continue to be able to contact us by email, ‘Contact Us’ forms and post. These communication channels are advertised on our website, answerphone, and social media. In addition, a call-back can be requested by the customer where required”. 

But this has prompted a fiery response from Beadle, who says: “This is an appalling move by RSW and shows a staggering disregard for the customers it serves. Many firms, including us, are finding it really difficult to recruit people in the current environment, but they adapt and plan – they don’t shut up shop. 

“Given a new tenancy regime [in Wales] is coming in December, it does beg the question about RSW’s preparedness at a time landlords and renters most need it. This sorry episode is another reason to reform this big bureaucratic and unaccountable beast and make it answerable to the people it serves.” 

The NRLA has for some time been calling for wholesale reform of RSW and better preparation for the introduction of rental reform in Wales. 

The reforms, much delayed but now scheduled to be introduced just before Christmas, include: 

- There will be two types of tenancy - which will be known as ‘occupation contracts’.

- Secure contract replaces secure tenancies issued by local authorities and assured tenancies issued by housing associations that are Registered Social Landlords, while Standard contract will mainly be used in the private rented sector but can be used by local authorities and RSLs in some circumstances.

The contract requires a ‘written statement’ which must contain:

- Key matters: For example, the names of the landlord and contract-holder and address of the property;

- Fundamental Terms: Covers the most important aspects of the contract, including how the landlord gets possession and the landlord’s obligations regarding repairs;

- Supplementary Terms: Deals with the more practical, day to day matters applying to the occupation contract. For example, the requirement to notify the landlord if the property is going to be left unoccupied for four weeks or more;

- Additional Terms: Addresses any other specifically agreed matters, for example a term which relates to the keeping of pets.

The Renting Homes law also includes other important changes which include:

- Fitness for Human Habitation: Landlords must ensure properties are fit for human habitation. This will include, for instance, electrical safety testing and ensuring working smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors are fitted. In addition, rent will not be payable for any period during which the property is not fit for human habitation. However, a tenant is told by the guidelines to first raise any concerns with their landlord and continue to pay rent. If there is a dispute, it would ultimately be for the Court to decide if the landlord has complied with the fitness obligation.

- Greater security for people who live in the private rented sector including at least six months’ notice (a ‘section 173’ notice in the Act) to end the contract, providing the tenant does not break a term of the contract;

- Notice cannot be issued until six months after the tenant moves in (the ‘occupation date’ of the contract);

- If there is a fixed term contract (which says how long the contract is for) the landlord cannot normally issue a notice to end the contract. If the tenant does not leave, the fixed term contract will usually become what is called a ‘periodic standard contract’ at the end of the fixed term, and the landlord will have to serve a six-month notice to bring this to an end.

- Landlords cannot include a break clause (to regain possession) in fixed term standard contracts of less than two years. If the fixed term is two years or more, the landlord cannot give the tenant notice until at least month 18 of the fixed term contract, and will have to give at least six months’ notice.

- Protection against alleged ‘retaliatory eviction’: A landlord cannot issue a tenant with a no fault notice just because they have complained that the property is in a poor state of repair. The Court would need to be satisfied the landlord hasn’t issued the notice to avoid carrying out the repair.

- Joint Contracts: Contract-holders (ie, tenants) can be added or removed from contracts without the need to end one contract and start another. This will make managing joint contracts easier and help people experiencing domestic abuse by enabling the abuser to be targeted for eviction.

- Abandonment Procedure: Landlords can repossess an abandoned property without needing a court order, after serving a four-week warning notice and carrying out investigations to be sure the property is abandoned.

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