As the Welsh Government launches its Rent Smart Wales scheme, the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has spoken out about its thoughts.
Yesterday, the Welsh Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty, Lesley Griffiths AM, revealed the Rent Smart Wales initiative, which is a new landlord and agent registration and licensing scheme that will come into effect in the autumn.
The Welsh Government has not yet confirmed when a landlord will be able to register with the scheme, prepare for training, apply for a license or specified the cost of licensing. However, the RLA expects this to be from £200 per managing landlord.
The Vice Chairman for the RLA in Wales, Douglas Haig, says: “Whilst we encourage all landlords to comply with the new regulations and follow the Welsh Government’s guidance, the RLA believes that this will detract local authorities’ attention away from tackling the minority of landlords who are criminals and stretch resources further.
“We believe that existing regulations in the private rented sector are sufficient to tackle the criminal landlords, however, we do not see adequate enforcement of the powers that already exist.
“A better deal for tenants would be to put the resources used to create the scheme into enforcement instead.”1
1 http://news.rla.org.uk/enforcement-key-to-protecting-tenants-say-landlords-not-more-regulation/