Activists and council bureaucrats link up to protect licensing

A statement from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health says its views on licensing landlords have been backed by the Renters’ Reform Coalition.

The coalition, which comprises 21 organisations including Generation Rent and “tenant’s union” Acorn, wants more public money spent on councils to strengthen selective licensing and beef up enforcement of housing laws.

The statement says: “CIEH has long called for consolidation of the various housing standards embodied in legislation in order to provide clarity for landlords, tenants and local authorities”.

And the institute says it backs the coalition’s call for the proposed private rented sector database to “support and complement selective licensing” and suggests steps the government could take to make it even easier for local authorities to use licensing schemes to improve housing standards.

These include enabling local authorities operating selective licensing schemes increasing the maximum duration of such schemes from five to 10 years and removing the government’s ability to veto selective licensing schemes covering more than 20% of the local authority area.

Mark Elliott, president of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, says: “We have been working hard to win support on these issues and are delighted to have obtained this backing for our positions from the Renters’ Reform Coalition. The importance attached by the coalition to funding for local authority enforcement and strengthening licensing is very welcome indeed.

“We are particularly pleased that our positions on funding for training of environmental health professionals, consolidation of the various housing standards and removal of unnecessary barriers to the use of licensing schemes are echoed in the report. We look forward to continuing to work with the coalition during the passage of the Renters’ Rights Bill through parliament.”

Over the weekend the coalition called for dramatic changes to the Labour government Renters Rights Bill – even though it has its second reading in the House of Commons this week. The coalition wants:

Specifically they want: 

• No fault eviction compensation – the coalition writes “we are calling for an automatic right to non-payment of rent in the final two months before a tenant vacates, in cases where a landlord has used no-fault eviction grounds. This would compensate for the costs and disruption of a no-fault eviction”;

• Longer protected period – “we urge the government to ensure that renters are protected from a no-fault eviction for the first two years of a tenancy”;

• Discretionary possession grounds – “all grounds for possession introduced by the Renters’ Rights Bill should be discretionary, to allow courts to consider all factors and where possible avoid or postpone a damaging eviction”;

• Addressing affordability – “we believe the government should establish a National Rental Affordability Commission to investigate effective methods to make renting more affordable. This should include investigation of rent control measures aimed at bringing rents down relative to incomes”.

• Rent stabilisation – “we continue to advocate for rent stabilisation within tenancies, with a cap on in-tenancy rent increases of the lowest of either inflation or wage growth. This measure would primarily be aimed at improving security of tenure, so a rent hike could not be used as a no-fault eviction by the back door”;

• Mediated rent pauses for serious disrepair – “we recommend the introduction of a newlegal right to pause rent payments where alandlord fails to carry out essential repairswithin a defined timeline. This would supportthe intention behind extending Awaab’s law tothe private rented sector”;

• Strengthening enforcement and selective licensing – “the Bill will not deliver on its aimsunless local authorities are properly fundedaccording to the number of rented homes intheir area and are supported to ensure thatenforcement can take place effectively, and itshould also be made easier to expand selective licensing schemes”;

• Ending all forms of discrimination in the private rented sector – “the Bill shouldintroduce limits on the situations in which alandlord can demand a guarantor or multiple months’ rent upfront. There should also bestronger protections against disability andracial discrimination, including abolishingRight to Rent.”

• Illegal evictions – “we are concerned that the abolition of Section 21 may lead to a rise in illegal evictions undertaken by unscrupulous landlords. We are calling for the government to significantly strengthen powers for tackling illegal evictions.”

This article is taken from Landlord Today