Landlords get more red tape

[chrisknight]

All landlords to be forced to pay £50 to register with national body
All landlords will have to apply for a £50 licence before renting out their homes, under new Government plans to combat the exploitation of tenants.

exploitation of tenants!?!?!?.....rents are now guarenteed under the tenency deposit scheme (TDS)...what more needs to be done....

things just go from worse to worse for landlords...more red tape....more money to another new body......

how many more money making schemes can they come up with?

regards
ANGRY LANDLORD

[John Boon]

my brother inlaw has 2 buy to lets, they were his pension.

he was telling me about the tenancy deposit scheme and he thought it was a good idea as it weeded out the bad landlords (who kept deposits)

but this new registration process is just stupid......but i suppose the money has to be clawed back somehow since the banks emptied the treasury.

it wont be long until there is a registration fee for voting.....(i hope i have not given them an idea)


regards
john

[Lyndon]

Chris,
The tenant deposit scheme does not mean that

rents are now guarenteed under the tenency deposit scheme (TDS).

The deposit is protected, but only for the tenants. If your agent goes bust or runs off with the dosh then you, as the landlord, still have to find the deposit money. I should know - I am a letting agent. Despite their denials, the dispute service DOES favour the tenant. Whilst I have dealt with landlords who think the deposit is a form of "New for old insurance" I have also dealt with tenants who, no matter what state the property is left in, think they are entitled to ALL their deposit back!

The register of landlords could be a good idea as could a register of letting agents. I say could because the COST of registration is a major factor for both landlords and agents. It costs us over £1000 per annum to register with our various organisations, arrange Client Money Protection and Professional Indemnity Insurance etc. A simple idea for landlord registration would be name, address, email/mobile number. Online or by post should cost no more than £5. A condition of registration would be a requirement to either protect tenant deposits or take no deposit at all. The registration number could be supplied to any agent, newspaper or added to any "newsagents' advertising postcards". If there was a large enough penalty no agent, newspaper or newsagent would advertise an unregistered landlord so the system would have minimal operating costs. Tenants could check registration etc online, just as agents do with Gas Safe engineers. Hardly rocket science.

Sadly, this government will probably charge £250 per property or somethign equally stupid!


John,
I have three B2Lets with friends that were to be our pensions. Now the property market has crashed . . .