Welcome to our first Newsround for March, let’s see what has been in the housing news this week.
Tenants complain less about their landlords than people think
A new tenant survey by Leaders Romans Group has found that in reality fewer tenants are unhappy with their landlords than you would think from reading the media.
The survey found:
- 55% of tenants believe their landlord provides quality housing
- Only 12% view their landlord negatively
- 75% of tenants reported that maintenance requests are addressed within a week,
- 41% reported receiving responses in as little as 48 hours
However
- 50% wanted better communication
- 34% believed there needed to be greater understanding of the pressures faced by both tenants and landlords
- 39% of tenants calling for clearer tenant rights,
- 23% also wanted greater transparency around landlord responsibilities
As regards regulation:
- Only 17% believed it would improve relationships,
- Just 16% feel that an independent ombudsman would help
- 13% of tenants felt no changes were needed
The problem is that tenant organisations and also MPs in their surgeries see a steady stream of tenants who experience awful problems with nightmare landlords and get to think that this is the majority. Whereas in fact, it is not. The vast majority of landlords are good landlords.
It remains to be seen whether the good landlords will remain after the new regulations come on board.
Council launches tenant-landlord partnership
A new charter has been launched by North Herts council, known as the ‘Tenants’ Charter’ that is designed to help tenant-landlord relationships and ensure that landlords deal with their responsibilities quickly and keep their rented properties up to standard.
The council pledges to act as a mediator to help tenants who are not getting quick enough responses from their landlords and it will help them with compiling correspondence in order to help their complaints. Landlords must deal with tenants’ issues within two weeks, with complaints to be dealt with within three working days, and rectify any issues promptly.
Landlords must also adhere to all of the housing regulations. The council will also not hesitate to use enforcement measures if necessary.
The council will offer advice to tenants to help them manage their rental payments along with other household expenses.
This charter if for both social housing and private rental tenants.
New EPC changes echo concerns for all landlords
Concerns are growing on the impact that the new EPC regulations will have on landlords who need to prepare for the up and coming changes. An MP this week has voiced in the House of Commons concerns from his landlord constituents asking if the government will be supporting landlords in upgrading their rental properties.
He added that those landlords with just one or two properties are considering selling up, which would remove those properties from the rental market permanently.
Rushanara Ali, under-secretary of the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government said that they would support landlords to meet the new standards but would not commit to any more details. It is this vagueness and lack of any financial grants that is worrying for all landlords.
Early resolution is key for Property Redress cases
Property Redress, who are an independent impartial mediation and resolution company claim that despite a 20% rise in complaints last year they still managed to resolve 50% of their cases through early resolution. Their awards totalled £194,878 in 2024 which was 45% less than in 2023.
Their complaints on average, were completed in 40 days with holding deposits, poor service and tenancy payments being the top three complaints.
Sean Hooker, head of the Redress Scheme, said
As we strive to support, educate, and improve industry standards while continuing to clamp down on some of the poor practices that ensue, our adoption of innovative approaches like mediation and early resolution has yielded positive outcomes, fostering greater satisfaction among stakeholders.
And we end the Newsround this week on a bit of good news.
Council decides against plan for selective licensing scheme
Blackburn and Darwen Council are so concerned that landlords are quitting and that they will not have enough affordable rental homes, have dropped their plans for a selective licensing scheme.
Both landlords and tenants were opposed to the scheme in an area which already has a high tenant turnover. Quesir Mahmood from the council said there were concerns that the license fee would only encourage landlords to increase their rents or that landlords would sell up.
They had calculated that if just 10% of landlords sold up then that would result in 115 tenants needing alternative accommodation or even worse, facing homelessness.
The council will be offering advice and support to landlords to encourage retention whilst targeting rogue landlords with legal action.
Snippets
Landlord couple told to pay £8748 back to five tenants
Risk to rental sector in Wales as taxes raised, Propertmark warns
Experts wants heat pumps are too expensive for many homes to meet net zero targets
The areas where landlords face the most challenges with deposits are revealed
London ebike fire: landlords of ‘grossly overcrowded’ flat fined almost £100,000
See also our Quick News Updates on Landlord Law
Newsround will be back again next week