Tenants complain about poor standards in rental properties, but in many cases this isn’t due to a lack of laws or regulations.
There are already many laws regarding this.
Repair contracts under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the Human Habitat Fitness Regulations under sections 9 and 10 of the Act, the Home Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) used by local authorities to assess the condition of properties, and the Gas Safety and Electricity Regulations which require regular inspections.
To name just a few, many landlord associations regularly list around 400 laws that landlords must comply with (though I have yet to see a list).
The problem is not that there are no laws against poor property standards, but that these laws are not properly enforced.
Enforcement issues – local governments
Some of these laws make it a criminal offence to fail to comply with the rules, for example failing to comply with an improvement notice after a Category 1 hazard is found during an HHSRS inspection.
But the enforcement agency is not the police, who typically receive no training on housing law and therefore know very little about it.
The main enforcement authority for housing law is the local authority/councillor.
The problem with this is that proper enforcement action is rarely taken.
It's easy to see why: local authorities suffered huge cuts to their funding under the Conservative government, particularly during the austerity period, forcing many to make their housing teams redundant and leaving them with just “one man and one dog”.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to even enforce housing standards, let alone meet statutory rehousing responsibilities.
It's all a matter of resource allocation. Some local governments have made decisions to prioritise housing issues, so residents there have more protections.
However, other businesses lack the staff to deal with this and can’t afford to hire new staff or provide the necessary training.
Indeed, many local authorities are on the verge of issuing Section 114 notices (the local authority equivalent of bankruptcy), and some have already done so.
Enforcement issues – Tenants
Other legislation creates civil law obligations which tenants can enforce, for example repair covenants and rules fit for human habitation set out in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
The problem with this is that tenants who try to assert their rights risk being evicted in retaliation.
Sure, there is some legislation in place to prevent this issue, but in practice it is ineffective: protection only applies if a local authority improvement notice has been served on you (and, as noted above, this is becoming increasingly unlikely), and in any case the protection only lasts for six months.
But the main problem here is the shortage of available properties to rent, which means that if tenants are evicted, they likely won't be able to find anywhere else to live.
Most tenants, especially those on lower incomes (those most likely to be affected by low standards), are not willing to take such risks.
If there was more supply of privately rented housing, tenants living in poor conditions would be able to move somewhere else.
The problem of criminal landlords in private rental housing
When laws are poorly enforced, criminals are more likely to take advantage of them.
In many areas, landlords can provide a poor standard of accommodation without facing penalty.
Local authorities are struggling to avoid issuing Section 114 notices but are unable to take action against them, leaving tenants who fear they will become homeless unable to challenge them.
And it continues.
What about good landlords?
Contrary to what you might imagine from reading the press, there are plenty of great landlords who provide decent properties for their tenants and look after them well.
This also has the following side effects:
– They are “tainted” by all the negative press.
More and more people no longer want to be called landlords.
This is one of the reasons why many landlords are selling their properties and exiting the industry.
– It’s not a level playing field.
Unscrupulous landlords charge high rents but spend little on maintenance or complying with other statutory obligations.
Compliance with the rules that any conscientious landlord follows doesn't come cheap, and it's unfair that some landlords comply with their obligations while others can ignore them with impunity.
– Enforcement tends to focus on good homeowners rather than criminals.
For example, licensing schemes mean that good landlords apply for a licence and are penalised if they do not carry out the upgrading works required as a condition of being licensed, while bad or criminal landlords ignore their licensing obligations – thus circumventing inspection and upgrading requirements.
Generally, good landlords feel “slightly neglected” by the authorities and the media for simply trying to provide a good service to their tenants. This is why many landlords are leaving the industry, which only makes things worse for tenants.
What you need to do:
– Criminal liability
As far as criminal liability is concerned, there is no point in creating further criminal offences if the enforcement agencies are not in a position to enforce them.
Local authorities need to ensure they have adequate funding to employ staff and ensure they receive appropriate training. Once this is done, they can issue penalty notices to replenish funds.
But without staff, we can’t do this.
– Civil penalties
With regard to civil penalties, a tenant will only be deemed authorized to do so if:
They are not at risk of eviction and can receive legal assistance.
All political parties have committed to repealing Section 21, and if Labour comes to power (as they likely will), it is likely to happen within months. This would mean tenants could consider taking legal action against unscrupulous landlords without the fear of eviction.
As far as legal assistance is concerned, the best way to provide this is to properly fund law centres and CABx so that they can employ suitably qualified legal staff.
This is not mentioned in the tenant reporting, but it is important because claims for poor repairs and similar cannot be made easily. Even if the law is simplified, most tenants will still need professional help.
The best solution
But the best way to address this problem is to build more homes – something that all political parties have promised to do, but which I think is more likely to be delivered by a Labour government.
If there is an abundance of rental housing, people will be less likely to live in poor quality housing and will naturally choose higher quality housing offered by quality landlords.
Best of all, building more public housing would make life easier for low-income families, a topic I will explore in a future post.