Although the majority of landlords are decent and do a good job, we all know that there is a substantial majority of bad landlords. Even some criminal landlords.
These cause misery and heartbreak to their tenants and blight the reputation of the good landlords. One of the objectives of the Renters Rights Bill is to attempt to eliminate them.
At the moment, the only way that tenants can claim against bad landlords is to bring proceedings in the County Court. Otherwise, they are bound by their fixed term and legally must continue paying rent until it ends.
If they want to
- end their tenancy, which they can do under the ‘unwinding’ provisions in the consumer legislation. Or
- claim compensation for the poor (or shocking) condition of their home
they need to bring proceedings in the courts. Something many tenants shy away from as
- They are unfamiliar with the procedure
- They can’t afford solicitors to do it for them, and
- They find the prospect intimidating, and
- Court proceedings can be expensive and take a long time
There is also the alternative of asking for help from their Local Authority. However, most Local Authorities do not have the staff to help the large number of tenants who need it.
So, although tenants do have rights, in most cases, they feel unable to enforce them.
How the Landlord Redress Scheme will help
At the moment, there is an imbalance. We have two redress schemes for tenants whose landlord uses a letting agent, and the Housing Ombudsman who helps tenants of mostly social housing landlords. But there is no scheme for private sector tenants of self managing landlords.
Bearing in mind that often the worst conditions are found with self-managing landlords, this is unfortunate.
It effectively leaves tenants of self-managing landlords with no redress at all, other than the court system, which, for the reasons given above, most tenants will not want to use.
However, Redress schemes are far less intimidating. Tenants can often speak to someone from the scheme, before making their application, to get guidance, and the service is relatively quick and inexpensive.
The scheme Ombudsman can award financial penalties but can also make an order that the landlord apologise to the tenant or that he carry out works to the property.
The Renters Rights Bill provides that the Ombudsman decision may be enforceable as if it were a court order, which will help tenants whose landlords refuse to comply with orders made.
More about the proposed redress scheme
Landlords will be required to be a member of a redress scheme before they can market the property and must remain a member for a specified period of time after they have ceased to be a landlord.
It is likely that regulations will provide that landlords failing to join a scheme will be committing an offence and/or that Local Authorities will be able to impose penalty charges of (probably) up to £7,000.
There will be a fee for being a member, and landlords fear that this may be higher than anticipated. At the moment, the Property Redress Scheme fee for letting agents starts at £160 pa, and the Property Ombudsman charges £262 per office.
It is anticipated that the current Housing Ombudsman (Richard Blakeway) will be appointed so there is parity between social and private sector housing. Plus, as the Ombudsman service is already in existence, it should be quicker than setting up an entirely new scheme.
And finally
A Landlord Redress scheme will give tenants of self-managing landlords the same right to use a redress scheme as is currently enjoyed by social tenants and tenants whose landlords use a letting agent.
It will allow tenants of substandard and rogue landlords to bring a complaint without having to go through the intimidating court process. It will also help tenants enforce their rights – for example, to keep a pet, to get repairs done to their property or to complain about unauthorised landlord access to their home.
It is something that is well overdue.
The post Why we should welcome the Renters Rights Bill’s Landlord Redress Scheme appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.