Changes to the Law on Renting in Wales

The Welsh Assembly is calling for feedback on it’s proposals for changes to rental law. These include:

A NATIONAL REGISTER OF PRIVATE LANDLORDS

• the register would be run nationally on an England/Wales basis by an independent organisation.  This would be on similar lines to the current Tenancy Deposit Protection arrangements. This would avoid duplication for landlords and letting agents with interest in properties in both England and Wales.
• The register would primarily be web and telephone based with parallel arrangements for those without Internet access;
• landlords or their agents would register annually and pay a small fee to cover administration costs, and in return would receive a unique landlord registration number;
• landlords would not have to meet any preset criteria in order to register.  Only minimal data would be required – name, address and the address of the property holdings of the landlord at the time of registration;
• landlords would be given access to various services in return for registering.  These could include a starter pack for new landlords, standard forms and electronic notifications linked to legal and other requirements;
• there would be a public-facing element of the register which landlords could opt into and use as a shop window for their properties.  This could include additional information about properties for rent such as whether a landlord was a member of a landlord association or the Wales National Landlord Accreditation Scheme;
• in order to secure effective enforcement, the landlord registration number should be a prerequisite for all the mechanisms for which the landlord carries out his or her businesses (for instance a registration number would have to be shown on a tenancy agreement).  It would have to be quoted during all court processes – including eviction – and at the housing benefit offices where a tenant was in a receipt of a local housing allowance;
• in the event of persistent abuses and/or failure to comply with the regulatory regime, the landlord would be removed from the register and existing powers would be used to take over the management of his or her properties;
• the process of complaint against the landlord and the decision to remove a landlord from the register would be carried out by an independent body with the right of appeal to a separate judicial body.  The effect would be that the landlord would no longer be able to let out a property by him or herself;

REGULATION OF PRIVATE SECTOR LETTING AGENTS AND MANAGING AGENTS

It is envisaged that the regulatory regime for letting and managing agents would encompass the following elements:

• entry requirements;
• code of practice on members;
• requirement to have in place business and consumer protection measures (independent complaints procedures and linked redress, professional indemnity insurance);
• monitoring of compliance by regulatory body; and
• enforcement powers and the ability to put in place sanctions.

WRITTEN TENANCY AGREEMENTS

One of:

• legislation that sets out the minimum requirements for valid tenancy agreements and to allow individuals to base their tenancy agreements on these minimum standards.

• set out a model tenancy agreement in legislation to which additional clauses could be added in order to reflect individual circumstances.

Full details including how to respond with your views can be found at http://wales.gov.uk/consultations/housingcommunity/privaterentsector/?lang=en

or

Y Sector Rhentu Preifat yng Nghymru