Landlord and letting agents regulation
Former Labour housing minister John Healey and veteran Labour backbencher, Sir Alan Meale, both made proposals in the House of Commons separately calling for better landlord and letting agents regulation for the private rental sector.
Mr Healey’s Bill seeks to introduce mandatory licensing for lettings and property managing agents and a ban on lettings agents charging fees and is called “The Letting Agents (Competition, Choice and Standards) Bill 2013-14”.
The objective of the proposal is to establish a national mandatory licensing scheme for lettings and managing agents, with established standards and redress for landlords, tenants and leaseholders, and prohibition of lettings and management agent fees; to enable local authorities to administer and enforce the scheme; to require that tenants, landlords and leaseholders have written agreements; and to empower local authorities, either alone or in partnership, to trade as letting and managing agents.”
Sir Alan Meale’s Bill, entitled “The Private Landlords and Letting and Managing Agents (Regulation) Bill 2013-2014”, also sets out to regulate all private landlords.
Its objectives are:
- To establish a mandatory national register of private landlords
- To introduce regulation of private sector lettings agents and managing agents
- To establish a body to administer the national register and to monitor compliance with regulations applying to lettings agents and managing agents
- To require all tenancy agreements entered into with private landlords to take the form of written agreements.
Do you feel this is the governments autonomous control of the private rental sector and obtain in roads into how much landlords are actually making?