Councils, underwear drawers and back-pedalling

The new coalition Government has delighted many people by consigning the ill thought out HIPs scheme to the dustbin along with another of Labour’s disastrous property schemes, the Landlords Register.

Speaking in the House of Commons last week, Grant Shapps, the Housing Minister, said he was making a “promise to good landlords across the country: the Government has no plans to create any burdensome red tape and bureaucracy, so you are able to continue providing a service to your tenants.”

David Salusbury, Chairman of the National Landlords Association, commenting on the Government announcement, said:

“We wholeheartedly welcome the reminder from Government that the vast majority of tenants are happy with the service they receive from landlords. Of course, from the outset, the NLA believed that a national register of landlords, although well-meaning, was flawed. Today, the Government has confirmed our stance.

“We are very pleased that the Government is rejecting previous attempts to introduce a register: it was the wrong way to go about raising standards in the private-rented sector and would not have rooted out rogue landlords. In fact, we believe the likely consequence could have been to penalise the law-abiding, while at the same time driving the worst landlords under the radar.”

Labour had planned:

- A new housing hotline offering free help and advice for private tenants.

- ‘Trip adviser’ style word-of-mouth website comparing landlords.

- Requirement for written tenancy agreements in all tenancies.

- National register of landlords.

- Full regulation of letting and managing agents.

The new Government confirmed that none of these measures will now go ahead.

However, one piece of bad property law that was brought in by the previous Government and heavily criticised by the Conservatives in opposition, is the regulation of HMOs (Houses in multiple occupation).

This law, passed through the Commons as a Statutory Instrument without debate, allows the planning department of local councils to prohibit HMOs from certain areas. The definition of an HMO is a property rented to three or more unrelated sharers. This is usually the sort of property that students and low paid workers (often key workers) depend on.

Proving that some sharers are not related (i.e. not in a relationship) opens the door for the nightmare scenario of council busybodies entering homes to check up on tenants’ relationships. Under the Planning Act 2008, the council can enter a home with just twenty four hours notice.

Ironically, while in opposition, Grant Shapps said of this law: "While councils need powers to tackle the excesses of slum landlords, this is a state sledgehammer to crack a nut. Labour have already kicked the housing market by imposing the red tape of Home Information Packs. Now they want to cripple the fragile market with even more regulation. Tenants will lose out, as these new costs will reduce the supply of housing and drive up rents.”

He added: “There is already public alarm at Labour plans for an intrusive council tax revaluation and inspections of family homes. Now Labour are giving even more powers for town hall snoopers to barge into people’s bedrooms and rifle through their underwear drawers.”

However, in his new capacity as Housing Minister, he appears to be back-pedalling.

Ian Fletcher, director of policy at the British Property Federation, said: “Revoking the half-baked HMO planning legislation slipped in at the death by the previous Government was a pre-election pledge of the Conservatives. We hope this will be pursued swiftly as it is leading to confusion, unnecessary bureaucracy and expense at local level, and ultimately affordable homes for those in need. If the Minister wants to replace it with something better targeted then that is his prerogative, but the clear message from landlords is the current system is a dog’s dinner and time is therefore of the essence.”

With more than 20% of rented houses shared and that figure rising sharply in cities such as Manchester, this law needs to be removed as was promised before the election. And quickly.