Private rented housing “failing far too often to provide safe and secure homes” – parliamentary committee

In a report published today the Public Accounts Committee says it is “too difficult for renters to realise their legal right to a safe and secure home” and that local authorities – constrained by a lack of support from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and its approach to licensing landlords – do not have the capacity and capability to provide “appropriate and consistent protection for private renters”.

The private rented sector in England has doubled in size in the last 20 years and now houses 11 million people.

13% (589,000) of privately rented properties currently pose “a serious threat to the health and safety of renters” – costing the NHS an estimated £340 million each year – though enforcement in the sector “is a postcode lottery …with 21% of all privately rented homes in one region estimated to be severely unsafe”.

Tenants face increasing rents, a rising number of low-earners and families renting long-term, and the prevalence of “no-fault” evictions leaving households at risk of homelessness; and when trying to enforce their legal right to a safe and secure home private renters face an inaccessible, arduous and resource-intensive court process and the risk of retaliatory eviction.

There is also evidence of unlawful discrimination in the sector, with 25% of landlords unwilling to let to non-British passport holders and 52% unwilling to let to tenants who receive Housing Benefit.

The Committee says DLUHC has “only made piecemeal legislative changes in recent years, and in doing so has made the regulatory system even more overly complex and difficult to navigate for tenants, landlords and local authorities”; and is concerned that plans to address problems in the sector in a White Paper later in the year will be hampered by DLUHC’s poor understanding of the issues in the sector including overcrowding, harassment and evictions, and the actual effect of regulation.

Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “Unsafe conditions, overcrowding, harassment, discrimination and dodgy evictions are still a huge issue in the private rented sector.

“And yet the sector is a growing provider of homes and rents keep rising meaning that safe, suitable housing is too often out of reach for renters. Renters with a problem are faced with a complex and costly redress system which is not fit for purpose and many tenants give up at the first hurdle.

“We need to see a change in balance. We expect DLUHC to produce the promised White Paper in a timely and effective fashion, and start to turn around its record on addressing the desperate housing crisis in this country.”

The Committee makes multiple recommendations:

1. It is too difficult for renters to realise their legal right to a safe and secure home.

Alongside its Treasury Minute response the Department should write to the Committee to set out how it will use its planned reform programme to:
• Better support renters to understand what their rights are; and
• Improve renters’ ability to exercise their rights by learning from complaints and redress mechanisms used in other consumer markets.

2. Local authorities do not have the capacity and capability to ensure an appropriate level of protection for private renters.

The Department should conduct a realistic assessment of the resources needed for local authorities to regulate effectively, with consideration given to the size, types and quality of private rented properties and the demographics of renters. The Department should write to to the Committee within the next six months with an update on the outcome of this assessment.

3. The Department is not doing enough to support local authorities to regulate effectively.

The Department should take a more proactive approach to supporting local regulators and sharing good practice. To do so, it should learn from other consumer protection systems that provide central intelligence and support to local regulators.

4. Local Authorities are constrained by the Department’s approach to licensing landlords.

As part of its planned reforms, the Department should assess whether current arrangements for licensing schemes are working, and whether alternative arrangements may be more efficient and effective.

5. The Department lacks good enough data to understand the nature and extent of problems renters face.

The Department should develop a coherent data strategy to identify and collect the data it needs to:
• understand the problems renters are facing; and
• evaluate the impact of legislative changes.
Once complete, this strategy should be shared with the Committee, and the Levelling up, Housing and Communities Committee.

6. The Department’s forthcoming White Paper offers an opportunity for significant improvement to the private rented sector.

As part of its planned reforms, the Department should ensure it has a full understanding of the cumulative impact of proposed changes on tenants, landlords and the housing market as a whole. In doing this, it should work closely with other departments, including formally where appropriate, to understand how the reforms may affect or be affected by other policy areas such as benefits and tax.

SOURCE:Property Industry Eye | APRIL 13, 2022 | EYE CORRESPONDENT