London Rental Standard faces Khan ‘review’

Boris Johnson’s flagship London Rental Standard (LRS) scheme has a less certain future after Sadiq Khan’s team confirmed to The Negotiator that it is now ‘under review’ with a decision on its future likely ‘very soon’. The LRS is already on shaky ground. Soon after coming to office Khan released papers revealing that City Hall officials warned Boris Johnson back in 2013 that the scheme’s target to sign up 100,000 landlords was “unrealistic and unachievable”. Launched in May 2014 it is supposed to enable tenants to ‘rent with confidence’ and give landlords ‘peace of mind’ and has the strong support of the industry including the Association of Residential Letting Agents, whose parent organisation NFoPP runs the accreditation programme for ARLA agents wanting to join. The LRS originally brought seven landlord accreditation schemes across London under one roof but was a voluntary scheme for letting agents and so far, only 338 have signed up to it via their membership of either ARLA, the National Approved Letting Scheme or the UK Association of Letting Agents. It’s invisible on the main portals and for example Zoopla doesn’t use the logo on the details pages for LRS members such as Foxtons, and agents are left to…

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