Posts with tag: licensing schemes

Licensing Scheme Database Scheme from ARLA to help Agents stay Compliant

Published On: July 11, 2018 at 9:57 am

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Categories: Lettings News

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A new database has been launched by ARLA Propertymark, in partnership with GetRentr, a technology platform created to automatically monitor property portfolios for compliance with all UK property licensing schemes.

This service has been made free for those who are members of ARLA Propertymark. It provides information on new licencing schemes coming into force during the next month, as well as those ending this month, and those which local authorities are consulting on and will come into effect in the near future.

For those of you who are ARLA Propertymark members, you will have the option to take a look at your local area and see the status of current licensing schemes. This is so that you will hopefully be able to understand which ones are needed, in order to avoid any penalties.

David Cox, chief executive of ARLA Propertymark, said: “There are hundreds of laws with which letting agents and landlords need to comply, and new licensing schemes are being introduced on an almost weekly basis, so it can be difficult to keep up.

“Those who aren’t compliant risk breaking the law, and could face banning orders or fines of up to £30,000.

“This new database, available to all members, will help agents mitigate these risks and comply with the ever-changing law.”

Orla Shields, chief executive of GetRentr, said: “While property licensing was introduced to raise rental accommodation standards, the proliferation to around 540 schemes has brought with it a huge administrative burden for landlords and agents.

“Remaining compliant is a never-ending task as new consultations or schemes can come into effect at any time, meaning compliance today does not guarantee compliance tomorrow.

“We’re really excited about our partnership with Propertymark as it will help protect agents from increasing fines, and ultimately help improve safety standards across the private rented sector.”

Landlords told to sign up for Rent Smart Wales

Published On: July 11, 2016 at 10:55 am

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Categories: Landlord News

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Carl Sargeant, Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children, will today visit the Rent Smart Wales call centre in Cardiff. His visit is to assess how the task to ensure all private sector landlords to sign up for the mandatory scheme is progressing.

Registration

The Housing Act (Wales) 2014 made it a legal obligation for all private landlords in Wales to register themselves and their property with Rent Smart Wales by November 23rd 2016. Landlords who are still involved in letting and management activities will have to undertake further training.

Rent Smart Wales aims to improve standards in the sector. The call centre in Cardiff deals with queries from landlords and agents, helping them to register for their required licence.

In addition, the Cabinet Secretary also launched the next phase of the campaign in the run-up to the deadline. This was in order to inform landlords of their legal requirement to register, alongside giving tenants their right to have a property registered by a licensed landlord or letting agent.

Landlords told to sign up for Rent Smart Wales

Landlords told to sign up for Rent Smart Wales

Standards

Mr Sargeant observed, ‘Rent Smart Wales is a landmark scheme that will drive up standards in the private rented sector by requiring managing landlords and agents to undertake training to ensure they are clear on their responsibilities. It will help prevent the involvement of rogue and even criminal, landlords and agents in the management and letting of properties.’[1]

‘The scheme will help to protect tenants in the private rented sector, and will support good landlords and agents by helping them keep abreast of their responsibilities and legal obligations, raising the reputation of the sector as a whole. The deadline for registration is now less than five months away.   I would urge those who have not yet done so to discharge their legal responsibilities to register as soon as possible because, whilst registration can be completed simply and quickly on-line, the licensing process can take up to eight weeks to complete,’ he continued.[1]

City of Cardiff Council Cabinet Member Bob Derbyshire, added, ‘landlords and agents will have had a full year to ensure they register, get trained and become licensed under the new scheme. Although November 23 is the deadline for compliance and to many people, that may seem distant, we are keen to stress the importance of becoming licensed sooner, rather than later.’[1]

[1] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/landlords/landlords-urged-to-sign-up-for-rent-smart-wales.html

RICS calls for mandatory licensing for agents

Published On: April 8, 2016 at 11:53 am

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Categories: Property News

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The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has called for the introduction of a mandatory, legally recognised licensing scheme for all estate agents in Britain.

This call was prompted after anti-money laundering campaigners proposed harder sanctions against estate agents who assist rogues to hide their assets.

Expulsion

Transparency International said that all professional bodies should remove licences from individuals and companies found to be aiding corruption.

However presently, agents do not have to be a member of any professional body and could theoretically continue to practice following expulsion. Currently, The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team are only allowed to ban estate agents.

In the wake of the leak of millions of documents detailing over 200,000 offshore entities set up by Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, Transparency International has called for stronger action.

‘The Government should establish more effective administrative sanctions on professional enablers by encouraging professional bodies to withdraw licences from those implicated in such cases, in addition to prosecuting those who are personally involved,’ the firm stated.[1]

Risks

Head of advocacy and research for Transparency International, Rachel Davies, said, ‘if corrupt individuals are allowed to continue to buy up luxury property and enjoy life in the UK, then the Government risks its credibility in leading efforts to tackle corruption on the global stage.’[1]

In the wake of a television programme entitled From Russia With Cash, which showed estate agents dealing with an apparent corrupt Russian buyer, the NAEA and RICS called for an investigation into the findings.

RICS calls for mandatory licensing for agents

RICS calls for mandatory licensing for agents

Investigation

Members of both firms were involved in the dealings, with an actor playing the part of the ‘businessman.’ After the calls from Transparency International, a spokesperson for RICS said, ‘RICS demands the highest standards from our members and where those high standards fall short, we will use the full weight of our regulatory powers to take action.’[1]

‘A full and thorough investigation into those named by the From Russia With Cash programme is currently ongoing. While it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing case, we will be making a full statement once our investigation has concluded. RICS will always take stringent action against our own members that are found guilty of wrong-doing.’

‘However at this present time, UK estate agents are not legally required to be licensed and many are not members of a professional body. We are calling for the introduction of a mandatory recognised licence for all estate agents,’ the report concluded.[1]

[1] http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/new-call-professional-bodies-counter-money-laundering/

RLA slams council licensing scheme proposals

Published On: March 8, 2016 at 1:55 pm

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Categories: Property News

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A call to make it simpler for some local councils to bring in licensing schemes governing the private rental sector has been slammed by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA).

The RLA believes that the proposal will do little to remove criminal landlords from the sector. A response was directed towards a new report from the London Housing Commission, which recommended that the Government should be allowed to give borough councils the option to create their own landlord licensing schemes.

Waste

In its response, the RLA said that schemes such as these are a waste of time and money, noting that criminal landlords who show no regard for regulation never make themselves known. In addition, ministers have previously called licensing schemes as a ‘tenants’ tax.’

Offering an alternative, the RLA has called on councils across the capital to utilise powers already accosted to them. These involve having the majority of fit and proper landlords regulated by a single industry-run scheme, which leaves authorities free to target criminals operating behind the scenes.

RLA slams council licensing scheme proposals

RLA slams council licensing scheme proposals

Rooted out

RLA chairman Alan Ward acknowledged that, ‘we all want to see criminal landlords rooted out of the sector but making licensing easier for councils is not the answer.’ He stated that, ‘no criminal landlord ever makes them self known willingly,’ and that, ‘licensing only increases the time councils spend administering the scheme when they could instead be devoting these resources to finding criminal landlords.’[1]

However, the RLA has welcomed calls in the report for more public sector land to be made available for the development of fresh private rental properties.

Ward said, ‘we welcome the focus that the Commission has on boosting the supply of homes to rent. Ultimately, it is only by tackling the housing shortage that high rents can be addressed.’ Concluding, he noted that, ‘it is vital though that any moves to increase the supply of rental housing recognises that the vast majority of landlords are and will continue to be, individuals rather than big corporate bodies.’[1]

[1] https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/3/industry-body-slams-bid-to-make-council-lettings-licensing-easier

Council opts against challenging licensing ruling

Published On: July 14, 2015 at 10:13 am

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Categories: Landlord News

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A local authority has opted not to go to the Court of Appeal to try and ascertain a legal decision on its blanket-licensing proposals. This was despite earning the right to challenge the initial outcome.

Proposals

Approaching a year ago, private landlord Constantinos Regas, who owns just a single property, took Enfield Council to a judicial review in London. The move followed the Council’s decision to bring in selective, borough-wide licensing schemes, which were due to come into force in April of this year.

However, Mr Regas was successful in his bid to have the proposals quashed. On reaching the decision, Judge McKenna ruled that the changes were not lawfully designated.

Initially, the Council was refused leave of appeal by the High Court, but after petitioning, a right to challenge the decision was then officially granted.

Surprisingly, despite going to these lengths to secure the right to appeal, Enfield Council have decided not to press ahead and as such have accepted the initial result.

Difficulty

Enfield Council’s cabinet member for housing and housing regeneration Clir Ahmet Oykener, said, ‘we have been granted permission by the court to appeal the decision on the landlord licensing scheme in Court but the Government has, since we began this process, changed the law on licensing.’[1]

Council opts against challenging licensing ruling

Council opts against challenging licensing ruling

‘As a result, even though our advice is that we have a good prospect of success in the courts, we will be faced with difficulty in implementing the present selective licensing scheme because of changes in the law relating to the conditions and general approval for introducing selective licensing,’ Oykener continued.[1]

‘In effect the goalposts have moved. We also want to revisit the case for additional licensing for Houses in Multiple Occupation,’ Mr Oykener concluded.[1]

Enfield Council’s experience will interest two other London councils, namely Lewisham and Barnet, who also plan on introducing additional licensing schemes in the near future.

[1] http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/council-wins-right-to-go-to-appeal-over-blanket-licensing/

 

 

Two more councils to bring in licensing schemes

Published On: June 4, 2015 at 11:36 am

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Categories: Landlord News

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A further two London councils have indicated that they are to introduce additional licensing schemes in the coming weeks.

Redbridge council held discussions about their latest proposals just last night, while Camden is poised to propose a borough-wide scheme that would apply to all properties shared by three of more people.

Investigation

The changes proposed by Camden comes after a thorough investigation. Environmental health officers visited a total of 391 houses in multiple occupation (HMO’s) and alarmingly, branded 19% as poor or very poor. Additionally, the visited 28 flats situated above shops, and found that 4 had poor conditions.[1]

As part of their 22-week consultation scheme, the council received 1,4000 responses to its online survey. However, of the 171 landlords who replied, 71% were found to be opposed to the licensing proposals.[1]

Despite Camden Council hosting the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme, it argues that having accreditation does not help with poor standards in properties owned by landlords that are not members.

Two more councils to bring in licensing schemes

Two more councils to bring in licensing schemes

Complex

Richard Tacagni, managing director of consultancy firm London Property Licensing, commented that, ‘this move by Camden Council will bring another 8,000 HMO’s within the remit of property licensing in what is becoming an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.’[1]

He continued by saying that, ‘by December 2015, we will have almost 20 separate property licensing schemes operating in London, each with different terms and conditions-a situation that is being replicated in various parts of the country.’ Tacagni also warned that, ‘unsafe and badly managed properties will only be tackled by enforcement action and councils need to step up to the mark and make effective use of their existing enforcement powers.’[1]

 

[1] http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/two-more-authorities-poised-to-bring-in-licensing-schemes/