Private rented sector review proposes licences for landlords

The private rented sector review, dubbed the Rugg review, has made the recommendation that residential landlords should be licensed in order to target rogue landlords who continually fail to meet statutory requirements and management levels.

The licence could effectively end amateur landlords by making letting property more of a business than as an extra source of income. Also those that don’t measure up could have their licence revoked and be banned from ever letting out a property.

The calls for a licensing system have been meet with the cold shoulder by investors and landlord associations.

Both the National Landlords Association (NLA) and the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) have been less than enthusiastic about the licensing idea, with the view that more statutory control with criminal sanctions are not the way forward.

However others were in favour such as the National Approved Lettings Scheme that sees itself as an ideal candidate to run the scheme should it be implemented.

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31/10/2008 13:55:59