New Legislation to Affect Landlords in the UK, but How Much...

I have just read both sides of the debate over the government's new legislation pertaining to the private rental sector and landlord licensing.

The Landlord and BTL blog says this is a government war on landlords as Labour shows its true colours of landlord hatred in the hope of winning the votes of the masses at the expense of the few, the author writes:

"They [Labour] don't like landlords and want to beat us into submission with legislation. Why? Because it's good for us! Because it's good for communities, society, tenants. No! What it's really about is the fact that they can say to the electorate that they are doing something and hope to snatch the odd vote from poorly informed tenants and Labour supporters who love to see landlords get a good kicking!"

On the other hand Inside Housing says it is simply an attempt by the government to lessen the impact of sub-standard housing within the community, quoting housing minister John Healey as saying:

"Everyone deserves a decent and safe place to live and these measures aim to improve standards of the private rented sector at a time when more people look to rent as their first option in the housing market."

Before I wade in I'll briefly explain what the legislation is:

Firstly: the Department for Communities and Local Government is to give local councils the power to set up landlord licensing programs without central government permission, in areas where there are lots of substandard properties.

Secondly: the law regarding Houses with Multiple Occupants (HMOs) is to be changed; from April any landlord wanting to turn a house into an HMO will have to seek planning permission in order to do so.

Now, I suppose I should really be careful here with so landlords on my follower's list, but we all know I'm not gonna do that. I am forced to say that the Landlord and BTL blog author is overreacting a bit on this occasion.

Firstly, the licensing schemes:

In the locality in which I live, one cannot be a window cleaner without having a licence, for which you pay almost £200 and have to be vetted by the police.

Landlords can have a massive impact on people's lives, it is only right that there should be some kind of controls in place. It is easy for landlords to baulk at such legislation, but we all know that there are some really nasty and irresponsible people in this world, and when that sort of person becomes a landlord he/she can do some real damage to people's mental state, mental health and even physical health.

This is especially worth bearing in mind now, with so many people being forced into rented accommodation because they couldn't afford to keep their house, or worse: lost it to repossession. This I suspect is the reasoning behind the legislation.

Looking at it from that angle responsible landlords with nothing to worry about or hide, will I'm sure either support the legislation or at the very least understand why it is necessary (let's hope it is that group mostly following me or I may just regret writing this post).

Onto the HMO planning permission:

This I also support for pretty much the same reason; an irresponsible landlord with little compassion or even consideration for those unfortunate enough to be his tenants, deciding to go HMO because it will increase his returns is an absolute recipe for disaster, and one which again endangers people's safety. At least if planning permission is sought, at least the properties will be safe and properly thought out.

On the other hand, maybe the planning permission is just another example of the big brother state going too far. That said: one cannot build an extension or garage without planning permission, why is that, for people's safety? So if this is the case then doing something that will involve more people's safety should have the get the plan association nod, shouldn't it?.

Update from Nick @pimlico_flats: "A lot of the angst [among landlords] comes from a tighter definition of licensable HMO, changing from 5 persons in a 3 storey house, to 3 persons."

Thanks Nick, I did not know that, and I can see why that would cause anger.

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