Did anyone else pick up on the news item this morning about a borough-wide scheme coming into force today in LB Newham requiring all private sector landlords to be licenced? Obviously there are rogue landlords, and Councils are probably the part of government best placed to deal with them, but I wondered whether this extra bit of regulation was sensible; was this perhaps LB Newham trying to push the bottom end of the private rental market, with its associated social problems, onto other boroughs? Did Newham and other boroughs not have enough powers to deal with bad landlords already? Wouldn't the effect of this extra regulation, with associated costs, be to make responsible private letting that much less attractive, and so few properties being made available to let at a time of housing shortage? With headline grabbing quotes about the horrors of bad landlords, it seems to feed the narrative that the private sector is part of the problem, when it should be part of the solution.
I think there is a danger of all that, but it may actually be part of a thought through approach, since it emerged - according to this report in the Guardian - from what seems to me a very sensible report by an academic at the University of York Centre for Housing Policy, "The Private Rented Sector - its contribution and potential". I really like this from the "Executive Summary"
At the heart of the Review is the desire to see private renting as a less marginal, poorly?regarded ‘third’ option that sits behind the preferred tenures of owner occupation and social renting. The Review concludes with a series of recommendations on policy ‘directions of travel’ that seek to maximise the full potential of the Private Rented Sector (PRS) as a flexible, well?functioning element of England’s housing market.
...
Conclusion
The PRS is a key component of the housing market in England. The flexibility of the PRS needs to be protected, and policy interventions should flow with the market rather than seek to change its essential characteristics. High?level co?ordination of policy between government departments would contribute to the task of framing a ‘cross?departmental’ culture for local?level intervention in the PRS. A Ministerial statement of intent would help to underline the importance of the sector to the operation of housing and labour markets, and encourage local authorities to seek a 'private rented’ dimension to National Indicators.
Not surprisingly, the policy is backed by Shelter, and on Newham's own web site, its Director of communications, policy and campaigns urges other local councils to follow Newham's lead. I think this would be welcome - even though in itself it will do nothing to increase the overall supply of housing, so making it more generally affordable. For that, in the same spirit as the report this policy comes from, there needs to positive encouragement of the private rented sector.
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