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Government property portal to crack down on rogue landlords

Data on the portal will be publicly available for all to see and help drive rogue landlords and agents out of the sector.

Robyn Hall

Property to let

The Government has finally responded to its consultation on reforming the Rogue Landlord Database and says its recently-announced property portal will ensure sure that tenants, landlords and local councils can all access any information they need.

The database of rogue landlords and property agents was originally introduced in April 2018 but has largely failed to highlight as many dodgy estate agents and landlords as expected.

MANDATORY

It has been mandatory for housing authorities to report when a landlord or property agent has received a banning order since April 2018 when enforcement rules were brought in.

But lax legislation means that housing authorities have been able to use their discretion to make entries where a landlord or property agent has been convicted of a banning order offence or has received two or more civil penalties within a year.

But that’s all set to change. The new portal will provide a single ‘front door’ for landlords to understand their responsibilities, tenants will be able to see whether their landlord is compliant as well as enabling local councils to crack down on criminal landlords.”

The portal will act as a trusted one-stop-shop for guidance on renting in the PRS.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC), says: “We also intend to incorporate some of the functionality of the Database of Rogue Landlords, mandating the entry of all eligible unspent landlord offences and making them publicly visible.”

TRANSPARENCY

Pundits say the move will boost transparency in the sector and help clear out rogue landlords.

As set out in the ‘A fairer private rented sector’ White Paper, published in June 2022, the portal will support good landlords to demonstrate regulatory compliance and to attract prospective tenants.

“The portal will act as a trusted one-stop-shop for guidance on renting in the PRS – levelling up awareness of tenants’ and landlords’ rights and responsibilities across the country.”

September 12, 2022

2 comments

  1. They’ve not got a clue.

    In Nottingham, u advertise a 3 bed for £850pm, u get 150 calls in a day. The Landlord could be Saddam Hussein-The tenant is taking the house. They have no choice now since Selective Licensing & UC.

  2. The problem with this well meaning register is that the most unscrupulous landlords rent out their hovels to individuals who won’t know or care about registers.The reason is, these victims are invariably illegal often enslaved and exploited immigrants too frightened or ignorant to say anything for fear of repatriation. In the meantime the landlord haters tar us all with the same brush, desperate to treat us as criminals and in doing so will seriously exacerbate the UKs homeless crisis.

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