Private Rented Sector Buy to Let Consultants
David Lawrenson of PRS consultancy www.LettingFocus.com shows how government seems to be failing to learn from past experiments to control the private rented sector – and calls for more robust analysis. Landlords have paid £11.2m in fees since the introduction of the Landlord Registration Scheme in Scotland. But the scheme has resulted in only 11 people being reported to the […]
Read moreWill borough-wide selective licensing of all landlords succeed in dealing with antisocial tenants? And will it be cost effective? David Lawrenson of www.LettingFocus.com looks at the issues. Back in 2004, selective and additional licensing of landlords was designed as tools to help deal with “low housing demand” and pockets of antisocial behaviour by tenants in the private rented sector. The […]
Read moreDavid Lawrenson of www.LettingFocus.com says that the move to “localism” is leading many town halls to make some very bad decisions about the private rented sector. One of the obvious consequences of the Coalition’s liking of “localism” is that it gives more control to the local authorities. But the localism agenda can be a problem for the private rented sector […]
Read morePrivate landlords should comply with the rules or accept that worse could be yet to come says David Lawrenson of www.LettingFocus.com. On many occasions I have said that now the private rented sector has grown so big and become so important, landlords must expect there to be no let up in the raft of legislation effecting what they do and […]
Read moreI was quoted extensively at the Guardian Housing Network blog last week and I think it is worth highlighting the key points I made. Why the PRS is in the News 1. The private rented sector (PRS) is increasingly in the news and will remain so, partly because of its growing size and partly because of rising rent levels, which […]
Read moreDavid Lawrenson of LettingFocus worries about Ken Livingston’s idea of rent controls and says that that accreditation and registration schemes for landlords are not needed because the vast majority of landlord and tenants enjoy good relations and the minority of rogue landlords will never register anyway. Oh dear, oh dear, I spend a nice day at a CIH Conference telling […]
Read moreA new report on the Scotland Landlords Registration Scheme confirms what we have long suggested – that the scheme has failed on many of its objectives says David Lawrenson of LettingFocus. Many people, in government and elsewhere, would like to see the private rented sector “regulated” more. Of course they often have different ideas about exactly what sort of regulation […]
Read moreSynopsis: David Lawrenson of www.LettingFocus.com points out how recent experiences of “rogue landlords” letting out “sheds with beds” goes to show why more regulation would probably be a waste of resources. As if any more sign was needed that there is a huge shortage of accommodation it must be the emergence of the “sheds with beds” story. It now seems […]
Read moreNews has just come in that the national landlords register proposed by the last government has been scrapped for England and Wales. I thought the register might not be a bad idea if it was set up right, unlike the pre-existing Scottish scheme. See my comments on how the scheme north of the border seemed to be a pretty hopeless, […]
Read moreAs you may know, a registration scheme for landlords has been proposed for England and Wales for all landlords. Under the proposals, now on hold until after the election, a fee would be charged to landlords who would all be required to register. At LettingFocus we are not opposed to this as long as the objective of the scheme is […]
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