Not one rogue letting agent or landlord’s name has been added to the database that was set up to help local councils and central government identify bad operators, a Freedom of Information request has discovered.
The request was filed by the Guardian and ITV news.
Its response revealed that by the end of August, the database – implemented in April – was completely empty.
Unlike the Mayor of London’s ‘blacklist’, the national version is not accessible to the general public – or, importantly, to employers looking to hire new staff.
A separate Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government asked why the public could not access the blacklist.
The ministry simply said: “It is not in the public interest to disclose this information at this time.”
David Cox, chief executive of ARLA Propertymark and a repeated critic of the ‘secret’ database, told EYE earlier this year: “This is a truly ridiculous piece of legislation.
“There are no legal reasons for this database being kept secret. How on earth is a tenant supposed to know if a landlord has been banned?
“Also, professional bodies like ours may inadvertently endorse a banned landlord or letting agent by accepting them as a member.”
An MHCLG spokesperson told the Guardian: “Only offences committed from April this year can be included and it can take a number of months to secure convictions. We expect to see entries in the database increasing in the New Year.”
The spokesperson added: “Councils have welcomed the database as an important tool to help them crack down on the minority of landlords who rent out unsafe and sub-standard accommodation.”
Richard Tacagni, managing director of consultancy London Property Licensing, told EYE: “London boroughs may prefer the simplicity of the public facing database established by the Mayor of London.
“If a landlord or agent objects to being added, the listing will only be stopped if it creates a risk of personal harm, a national security risk or it is not in the public interest. As a result, the database already holds hundreds of records”.
“Adding someone to the national rogue landlord database is a far more complex process.
“The council must consider a range of factors including the severity of the offence, mitigating factors, culpability and deterrence before any such decision can then be appealed to the First-tier Tribunal, a process that will add to the council’s workload and cause further delay.”
EYE has covered a number of stories involving recent successful prosecutions of letting agents and landlords and last night, the Guardian and ITV News jointly released some names involved in case studies.
The story made the ITV News yesterday evening.
Hardly surprising is it! Its too much effort for the authorities and they have no interest in fulfilling their duties…
Agents constantly flouting the law regarding EPCs not being displayed. Despite companies being reported to the local authority no action is ever taken
Landlords not getting EPCs for privately rented property
Agents expelled from the Ombudsman schemes still trading. Why do Trading Standards not put them out of business
The list could go on and on, but if something as simple as EPCs can’t be monitored and regulated how do they expect the tenant fee ban to be dealt with efficiently. I fully expect certain letting agents next year to continue to charge fees for this and fees for that taking advantage of tenants who dont know about the situation and councils who if reported to, cant be bothered to do anything about it.
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A serious question… Would you expect the Housing Association – Luminus to be registered on the database? At one time they had over 1000 properties with expired gas safety certificates.
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I would expect any organisation or individual who lets properties to have some sort of oversight and thus put on the register if they do not comply with the law. The problem with those that over see our industry is that as stated above they have little interest is regulation apart from when nudged by Shelter etc. Also there is no hope in hell that landlords who rent privately without the aid of an agent will suffer any large scale scrutiny. Due to lack of awareness (down to government or the likes of Shelter if they are up for it), many tenants do not know an EPC, gas safety etc is required.
Nothing will ever change unfortunately apart from now and then when something horrendous happens.
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Some good points here. Fundamentally the problem is that all governments think the answer to governing is more and more laws. The truth is that what is really needed in most cases is enforcement of the existing rules but that costs money, time and staff.
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Totally agree, the councils could make millions by just enforcing some of the rules/laws.
start with an EPC on window displays followed by the number of illegally placed *boards* and they could make a fortune from just one quick drive around town.
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How about another FOI request, this time to find out how much this cost taxpayers?
And how can it not be in the public interest to have a blacklist that can’t be seen by the people it’s supposed to protect?
Still the good news is that the Government are going to be even handed and bring in a tenants blacklist too.
Ok, I made the last one up . . .
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