An official blacklist of bad landlords and letting agents will be introduced by the government from October 1.
The database will cover property people who are convicted of housing offences in England.
These are mainly aimed at landlords with houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) who are found guilty of running a home without a licence and safety offences.
The scope of the database may be widened to include letting agents who charge fees to tenants once a ban comes into force – no date has yet been suggested for this.
The timetable for the blacklist was revealed by Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government Lord Bourne in response to a written question in the Lords from Baroness Grender, who asked whether letting agents would be blacklisted for charging fees.
She is sponsoring the Renters Rights Bill that proposed the letting agent fee ban before the details were announced by Chancellor Philip Hammond in his Autumn Statement 2016.
Bourne told her that the government is still considering which offences to criminalise for recording on the black list.
Lord Bourne wrote:
“While most letting and managing agents provide a good service, a minority of agents offer a poor service and engage in unacceptable practices.
“The government is keen to see tenants receiving a good service from their landlord and letting agent, and that is why we announced in the Autumn Statement a ban on letting agent fees paid by tenants in England. This will support better competition in the market and bring down overall costs.”
“Tenants will be better able to search around for properties that suit their budget and there will be no hidden costs. This may be preferable to tenants being hit with upfront charges that can be difficult for them to afford.”
He added a consultation would start within a few weeks over which offences would be included on the database blacklist.
And the blacklist for rogue tenants ? ?
So the tenants get even more, even the bad ones that get to rip off the landlords deliberately not paying knowing this form of fraud is not a crime its a licence to live for free.
What fool thinks no charges will work many checks are needed so the cost will end on the rents going up to cover them.
Better way is make malicious damage/none payment a crime like it is in all other case of smashing things up or walking off and not paying.
LAW AND RIGHTS FAIR TO BOTH.
When will stealing thousands of pounds in rent be classified as criminal behaviour?
Then we will have a very large list of criminal tenants. Much larger than that of rogue landlords.
I think some of the landlords need jailing! The facts most in my experience no zero about customer service, I pay you, you don’t do nothing ,I pay you and you use the cheapest cowboys you can get your hands on for repairs, that’s if you can even be bothered?
I am trades man and i look after my CUSTOMERS! and that’s what tenants are Customers and when we pay for a service we expect not to be cast aside by rouge landlords with multiple property’s while you live up you life’s out the country.
But although i have personally never stopped paying my rent i feel to be punished by what i see as “minority of tenants ” that wont pay because the place to rent is of poor standards.
The LAW should allow the rent to stop when all reasonable measures have taken place to resolve disrepair ie when the service stops.
I get a better UK right from buying £20 DVD player from Tesco than getting from a rouge landlord. you are running a business and we are the customers the landlords i have had in past have left there property’s to fall to bits, boilers are noisy and dangerous and so are electrics and as to a respond to the above i can only assume most rouge tenants don’t pay because they feel they get a bad service.
WE ALL KNOW YOU RENT YOUR HOUSES BECAUSE YOU BELIEVE THE HOUSES YOU OWN ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU TO LIVE IN
ALSO YOU CANNOT GET A DECENT BUYER BECAUSE THE STATES OF DISREPAIR WITH POSSIBLE FAILINGS OF BUILDING REGULATIONS SO LANDLORDS NEED MONEY SO YOU RENT IT OUT!