Is It Time For A National Landlord Register?
November 17, 2014
It is busy on the landlord meetings circuit in London at the moment, I’ve been doing the rounds across the East London boroughs I look after for the NLA. Two weeks ago, I was at a very positive meeting in Hackney where cabinet member for housing, Cllr Phillip Glanville attended the whole meeting. He is sensible and approachable and in our obligatory licensing chat, he assured me it was an option, no definitive decision had been taken and we should meet to discuss further.
Not so […]
No London borough is complete without its landlord licensing scheme, it would seem. Politicians, keen to look like they’re sorting out landlords, are following a fashion. Get your staff to look at the feasibility of licensing. Even though the fees can only be used to fund the scheme, the extra millions maintain departments in a time of extensive cuts.
Sorry to bring doom and gloom, but my prediction that once established in Newham, selective licensing would spread like Japanese knotweed across East London is coming true. London boroughs of Islington and Hackney are both conducting reviews of the private rented sector and both held meetings this week at which the NLA were invited to present evidence on the future of the PRS in London. I attended the Islington meeting and Chief Executive Officer, Richard Lambert, attended the meeting in Hackney. Both are seriously considering […]
I chair the regular NLA London Regional seminar sponsored by Edmund Cude at the Institute of Directors. This month we were looking at the un-joined-up housing policy of the current government, proposals from shadow housing minister Jack Dromey MP, welfare reform impacts in Hackney presented by Jennifer Wynter and realistic strategies for dealing with rogue landlords. Mira Bar-Hillel from the Evening Standard joined us for the panel discussion to stir things up.
The absurdity of Newham’s borough wide licensing scheme became clear this week as it emerged that of the estimated 35,000 privately rented properties in the borough only 19,000 – or 54% – have actually applied for the license, according to a letter sent by the council to me and other Newham landlords. That means that instead of focusing resources on finding rogue operators, council staff will now have to trace these 16,000 properties. The deadline for applications was 31 January 2013.