The London Rental Standard was launched officially today by mayor Boris Johnson – setting a potential blueprint for other towns and cities across Britain.
Agents and landlords are being invited to sign up to it, with agents being told that becoming accredited will offer them peace of mind that they are complying with the law.
Accreditation is also described as a “great way to set your business apart from the ‘rogue’ agents blighting London”. Accredited agents will have to be transparent about their fees, improve response times for repairs, and promise to protect deposits.
The scheme also brings together seven landlord accreditation schemes, which will now operate under a single framework.
The scheme looks, however, as though it could become highly political with its choice of partners – notably Mydeposits, the spin-off from the National Landlords Association.
Mydeposits is offering accredited letting agents who protect deposits for their landlords a 55% discount on joining. A similar deal is offered direct to landlords.
The London Rental Standard scheme is also partnered with Endsleigh to offer landlords free home emergency cover worth £59.50.
The scheme has the backing of NALS, ARLA, RICS and UKALA, all of whom are approved London Rental Standard providers of accreditation. The link with Mydeposits is unlikely to find much favour with ARLA, whose members generally use TDS.
Agents already accredited with any of the bodies can join the London Rental Standard at no extra cost and receive the London Rental Standard Badge and accreditation number.
Agents in London can then apply to get their Mydeposits discount.
Landlords can also apply for London Rental Standard accreditation, either by paying out between £80 and £125 for a one-day course, or by taking a free online course if they are already members of the Residential Landlords Association or National Landlords Association.
It is described as “useful training, even for experienced landlords”. To stay accredited, they must take the course every five years.
Landlords will also need to sign up to a code of practice and declare themselves to be “fit and proper”.
Again, they will get special deals with Endsleigh and Mydeposits. Again, the promotion of Mydeposits might not go down too well with the RLA, which has a special deal for its members with TDS.
This morning, the first London Rental Standard certificate of accreditation was presented to landlord Rob Hunter, who is currently part of the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme and a member of the NLA.
There is video here on the new rental standard, released by the Mayor’s Office.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-OgzyijK9o
And something more enlightening here – an exclusive video interview with the deputy mayor of London (housing) about the London Rental Standard:
http://nalscheme.co.uk/blog/post/2013/11/06/The-London-Rental-Standard.aspx
Comments (6)
Why are schemes like this necessary? Because the Government won't regulate (and police) properly.
Peoples Front of Judea
Thank you for the chuckle!
Max is correct, the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme is a key parner of the London Rental Standard, being the largest landlord accreditation scheme in hte UK.
The RLA Accreditation Scheme (www.rlaas.co.uk) is also an approved partner of the London Rental Standard and it's accredited members will automatically be passported into the London Rental Standard.
For more information, visit http://www.rlaas.co.uk/london-rental-standard-and-the-london-badge.shtml
I have just read your article, and I see that there is no mention of the London Landlord Accreditation scheme. Why is this? LLAS is the biggest scheme in London and UK, backed up by the Mayor himself. The Mayor has invested £100,000 towards LLAS new website. Our Scheme has the largest number of members, and we are the cheapest of all schemes. The launch of the London Rental Standard today, also have used one of our accreditated landlords to do this. Despite all this, it makes me wonder how you excluded London Landlord Accreditation scheme from your article?
A small question from the back of the room; the article says " Agents and landlords are being invited to sign up to it, with agents being told that becoming accredited will offer them peace of mind that they are complying with the law."
Which law exactly will they be complying with?