The conference season will end soon which means the second reading of the Renters Rights Bill will be taking place. As mentioned before there’s is really nothing groundbreaking in these proposals that should catch Cambridgeshire landlords off guard.

As there are 200 pages of clauses and suggestions I have broken the detail down into smaller chunks. So far, we have covered in greater detail:

• What the removal of section 21 will mean
• How the removal of fixed term tenancies might affect Cambridgeshire landlords
• Rent reviews and discrimination against applicants on benefits

This week I am going to cover:

• A new mandatory Ombudsman for all landlords
• A mandatory private rental sector database of landlords
• Strengthening of local authority enforcement powers and expanding civil penalties.

A new mandatory ombudsman for all landlords

Personally, this is the one of the positives I can see in the new Bill. Why? At the moment the system is really unfair to those tenants that live in a property that is directly managed by the landlord i.e. no input from an agent. So if a property is managed by an agent and the agent or the landlord does not do things correctly, the tenant has the opportunity to refer the situation to the Property Ombudsman.

This will now be extended to all tenancies with a new ombudsman service that will provide fair, impartial and binding resolution to both landlords and tenants. The aim of this ombudsman is to keep disputes out of court and act as a mediator. What we don’t know yet is how much this will cost and when it will come into play. Support for landlords who want to initiate disputes against their tenants will not be through the ombudsman, but the Government has confirmed they are looking at ways to allow this.

A mandatory private rental sector database of landlords

There has been very little detail on how this will be achieved but the aim will be to have full information such as EPCs, gas certificates and EICRs in one place and be accessible to landlords, tenants, and councils.

Strengthening of local authority enforcement powers and expanding civil penalties

The aim will be to give local authorities greater powers to investigate and enter private rental sector properties, and substantially increase the financial penalties for non-compliance. Given the fact that they have had this ability since 2004 with the introduction of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), I am not sure what difference this will make. At the moment there is no detail on how this will be done and what the penalties will be. A recent survey by the Property Ombudsman found that 81% of landlords that self-manage have a reported issue by their tenants with damp/mould. So, logic would presume that landlords not using an agent will be targeted first.

Next week I shall be covering more aspects of the new Bill.

If however, you have any concerns now that you would like to talk through just click here to book an appointment.