Under proposed Government plans, all private landlords may have to be registered before letting residential property in a bid to stop abuse within the rental market – and registration could cost £50…
As the rental market continues to grow thanks to the flood of ‘accidental landlords,’ – those who tried and failed to sell their UK property and so put it onto the rental market instead – the Government is looking at new ways to regulate the sector.
Under the proposed plans, all private landlords will need to apply for a licence at a cost of £50 and register with a national body before they can rent out residential property. ‘Private landlords’ will cover everyone from developers to buy-to-letters to those accidental landlords.
Easy access to buy-to-let mortgages in recent years has meant that the number of private landlords has risen to about one million in England and Wales, and unscrupulous landlords are exploiting tenants.
These new rules would mean that registered landlords would have to comply with certain standards and those who fail to carry out repairs or who treat tenants badly could be struck off. If that happened, all their tenants would have to move out of the property.
There is already a similar scheme running in Scotland and details of how the scheme would work in England and Wales are still being worked out. They will be outlined in an upcoming Green Paper and could be brought into force before the end of the year.
And in other news…
UK base rate held at 0.5 per cent
The Bank of England kept interest rates on hold at 0.50 per cent last week, the second consecutive month the Bank has left it unchanged.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) minutes last month showed that all nine members of the Bank of England’s MPC voted unanimously to hold the base rate in April.
Neil Young, CEO of Property Portfolio Managers Young Group, believes that the Bank of England’s recent announcements are more reminiscent of the ‘days of little change’ brought about by the former Bank of England Governor, the late Lord Eddie George.
“We seem to be heading back towards where we were before the credit crunch in as much as rates aren’t changing, the level of mortgage lending is stabilising and the majority of lending is through the high street rather than specialist lenders.
“However, the startling differences are that the base rate is now 0.5 per cent, not the long term average of 5.0 per cent, lending volumes are 60 per cent lower and margins are at levels that the banks would previously only have dreamt of,” added Mr Young.
And Nick Hopkinson, Director of Property Portfolio Rescue (PPR) said, “Interest rates are unlikely to move from 0.5 per cent for the foreseeable future, but with lenders remaining cautious, this will have little impact on those looking to secure a mortgage or raise finance.
“Consumers shouldn’t be fooled by the ad hoc good news stories, which have been emerging over recent weeks.
“We are not nearing the bottom of the market – house prices still have a long way to fall, unemployment figures continue to rise and repossessions have almost doubled over the last year.
“Those delaying their house sale in anticipation of a change in fortunes and imminent price rises will be bitterly disappointed,” concluded Mr Hopkinson.
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-ENDS-
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