The London Mayor is to ask the Government for new powers to introduce licensing schemes for landlords across the capital and to scrap Right to Rent.
Sadiq Khan revealed his draft housing strategy yesterday, which also outlined plans for a publicly available database of rogue agents and landlords as well as the establishment of tenancy deposit loan schemes that employers can offer their staff.
Currently the Government has the final say over whether new licensing schemes can go ahead where they cover more than 20% of a council’s area, but the housing strategy stated: “At present, property licensing is being applied inconsistently across London; the current system allows significant variation between how different councils approach licensing, which has led to a confusing patchwork of different schemes and conditions.
“Reflecting the very large size and complexity of the private rented sector in London, the Mayor is calling on Government to devolve responsibility for considering and approving selective licensing schemes to City Hall, where more consistent decisions and more effective scrutiny could take place.”
Khan also described Right to Rent as “discriminatory”.
He said: “These checks create additional costs and delays for landlords, and they also open the door to discrimination. In one national study, more than half of landlords surveyed said the regulations would make them less likely to consider letting homes to foreign nationals.”
The document also says the Mayor will work on “passporting” of tenancies to allow deposits to be transferred when a tenant moves rather than having to pay a new one before an existing amount is returned.
Khan added: “From £250m to kick-start my plans to secure more land for new and affordable homes, to a new model and fairer deal for millions of private renters, I want to help all Londoners facing the housing crisis.
“I will use my powers and resources to their fullest extent, but Government needs to play its part too by giving London the powers and resources we need to see an even greater step-change in the number of homes being built. This launch marks the start of a three-month consultation – I want as many Londoners as possible to let me know their views on how we can improve housing in London.”
Meanwhile, the Scottish Government has unveiled its housing strategy, pledging £3bn for 50,000 affordable homes over the life of the Parliament as well as the introduction of new energy efficiency standards for the private rented sector
Daryl Mcintosh, strategic development manager for Scotland at Propertymark, said: “We welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to increasing housing stock in Scotland. Improving the quality and supply of affordable homes remains a key factor which impacts so many people across the country.
“In principle we support introducing energy efficiency standards for the private rented sector, however we caution the Government to make sure it doesn’t take a ‘one size fits all’ approach, as those with rural homes in particular may struggle to meet minimum standards.”
Comments (1)
If Mr Khan wants to control every aspect of housing then he should get off his backside and build to rent so he can be king of the castle. Councils are notorious for being poor at doing things and managing anything and housing is no different. Where I operate Local Councils have just unnecessarily spent massive amounts on new natural stone pavings (where the existing pavings had been more than adequate) in at least 2 local shopping high streets (Penge, Bromley Council & Sidcup, Bexley Council) whilst reducing and closing essential local services (interestingly the same type of stone in both projects). Bexley has stopped monitoring cctv in its high street making the policing less effective and increasing crime and policing costs (but has nice paving now with chewing gum black marks). This indicates extremely bad decision making. That is a bit like not feeding your kids so you can run a flash car!!!
It is a fact councils do not fulfill their own legal obligations in so many areas because they say they do not have the budget (and that seems justifiable in their own minds) but expect the private sector to be fully policed irrespective of affordability. It all seems two faced to me.
It seems Government wanted Right to Rent ( and I object to being a free immigration checker) but Mr Khan now wants that abolished. The only reason I can think of is it is making it difficult for illegals to be housed? who knows.
Perhaps they should get their own houses in order as a first priority!