Tenants To Name And Shame Landlords Online
2010 is proving to be a year for greater regulations for property landlords. In a bid to root out unscrupulous landlords who are abusing their position, the government have decided to launch a set of measures to help tenants differentiate the good from the bad.
Of their 4 new measures, their biggest is the release of a tenant website – modelled on the travel website TripAdvisor – which will enable tenants to post reviews about their landlords and their rental properties.
However this new website is already being met by mixed review from the National Landlords Association who are worried tenants may use this website to falsely ‘landlord bash’ landlords who are actually law-abiding. Without strict regulation and maintenance, these reviews could quickly defeat the purpose of this website and instead harm the reputations of quality landlords.
Other measures set to launch in the coming 12 months which the NLA and many landlords are meeting with mixed feelings are:
- A new housing hot-line which will enable tenants to gain advice on how to deal with problematic landlords
- Making tenancy agreements a legal requirement
- A National Landlord Register where tenants will be able to see how well prospective landlords maintain their properties and respond to property repairs
The NLA’s main concern is that these strategies may prove ineffective at rooting out rogue operators, instead driving them under the radar whilst law-abiding landlords are penalised.
And it is hard to deny that the government are sending landlords mixed messages. On the one hand they are encouraging landlords to extend their property portfolio and invest in more properties to help fill the housing gap happening between social housing and property ownership.
Yet on the other, the government are implementing a set of new regulatory measures such as registering, declaring their addresses and allowing feedback to be posted about them on the internet which could potentially damage their reputation should one tenant write a slightly negative review. There is little to inspire property investors into investing in the property market when they could unnecessarily receive a landlord bashing.
Speaking on these 4 measures, the Housing Minister John Healey feels confident that they will provide tenants with the help and protection they need to ensure they know exactly what they are entering into when they sign.
But will they work? Only time will tell…
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5 Responses to “Tenants To Name And Shame Landlords Online”
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Hello,just observed your Blog when i google something and wonder what web hosting do you use for your wordpress,the speed is more faster than my website, i really need it.will back to check it out,thanks!
I personally think that bad Landlords should be named and/or even the letting agents working on the Landlords behalf. I am extremly keen to expose both Landlord and Agent ans they seem to be very close and working together to manipulate and ignore laws and legislations! They nearly killed myself and 3 children after not servicing the 35 year old Back Boiler that was in the property which was leaking high levels of carbon monoxide! Their response was ‘we are not obligated by law to service the boiler’ Please let me know how I can expose them to prevent this from happening to some other poor family.
I live in Hertford, Hertfordshire by the way!!!!!
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