Rental activists are demanding the upcoming Private Rental Sector database must make it easier for tenants to challenge landlords.
Some 30 activist groups – including Generation Rent, Migrants Organise, the National Union of Students and the Union Unison – have written to Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook demanding the database be widened.
This is an 11th hour demand as the database is due to be rolled out in the coming months and early versions are being tested now.
They claim tenants need additional data to challenge allegedly above-market rent increases at tribunals.
They also want HMRC to be able to compare tax records with declared rents, triggering a crackdown on landlords avoiding tax.
And in one striking passage in the groups’ extremely long letter says: “In order to prove that a landlord evicting tenants to sell the property or move in has actually done so, it is essential the database records when and why landlords have evicted tenants.
“This could be streamlined by enabling landlords to fill out a notice for possession via their account on the database.”
The groups also want landlords to be hit with an annual fee of £46 per property when the database launches later this year, to fund enforcement.
Here is their letter to the minister, in full:
Dear Minister Pennycook,
We are writing regarding the forthcoming Private Rented Sector Database and the vital role it will play in improving transparency, accountability and enforcement across England’s private rented sector.
The PRS Database is a vital mechanism in holding landlords accountable to new legislation and regulation, empowering renters’ and preventing abuse of renters’ protections.
Much of the success of the Renters’ Rights Act will hinge on the PRS Database’s transparency and effectiveness.
With testing underway with landlords and local authorities, and further details soon to be announced, this is a pivotal moment in ensuring that the Database helps make sure that the impact of the RRA is felt in our communities.
The PRS Database should not be viewed simply as an administrative register – it will be critical to ensuring the public feels the impact of the Renters’ Rights Act.
It is a cornerstone of the Government’s ambition to create a fairer private rented sector, by empowering renters, supporting enforcement and improving public understanding of conditions for renters.
However, if the Database fails to collect the right data, if the registration fees for landlords are too small, or if the database is not in fact publicly accessible, it risks becoming a bureaucratic hoop, rather than the transformative tool renters’ need in order to exercise their new rights.
We are therefore calling on you to:
1. Expand the scope of information collected through the PRS Database and make this information publicly accessible, including data on rents charged by landlords.
2. Confirm the fee structure for the Database and commit to using the resulting funds to provide sustainable, predictable resourcing for local authority enforcement of renters’ rights.
3. Progress implementation of the Database at pace and ensure its timely national launch for renters, landlords and local authorities.
Expanding Data Collection and Publication
In addition to commitments made in the Government’s Implementation Roadmap, we urge the Government to collect information on rents charged, use of the new eviction grounds, accessibility features and a history of enforcement action taken against the landlord in the Database and, crucially, make sure that this information is made publicly accessible.
Each of these are [sic] crucial to ensuring that landlords operate within the law.
The Database must require landlords to record all evictions and the grounds on which they were carried out, in order to be able enforce the new legislation.
This could be streamlined by enabling landlords to fill out a notice for possession via their account on the Database.
Transparency around the use of new possession grounds introduced by the Act will be essential for identifying and preventing breaches of the legislation.
For example, where a landlord has evicted tenants in order to sell a property, a publicly accessible record of the use of this ground and whether the property is currently occupied may be the only practical way for previous or new tenants to determine whether the landlord has broken the 12-month restriction on letting the property.
The Database must also provide transparency by recording any history of formal enforcement action taken against a landlord.
Including this information would not only support local authorities in monitoring criminal landlords; it would also enable tenants to make informed decisions about who they chose to rent from, which would in turn disincentivise landlords from breaking the law.
The Mayor of London’s Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker demonstrates that publishing such information is both feasible and valuable in helping renters understand potential risks beforeventering into a tenancy.
It is also important that the Government uses this opportunity to collect and publish information on the disability and accessibility features of rented homes.
By enabling private renting households that include a disabled or older person to find out essential accessibility information about a potential home via the Database before arranging a viewing, the process of finding a suitable home will be significantly more straightforward, accessible, and fair for all renters.
It is vital that all this information and other key data held within the PRS Database should be made accessible to the public and the renters the Database is intended to serve.
Providing this information publicly is essential to achieving the Database’s aims of improving transparency, supporting evidence-based policymaking and empowering renters to exercise their rights effectively.
The Database presents a unique opportunity to provide greater visibility over the housing conditions of 11 million people, and that opportunity should not be missed.
Given renters’ generally low level of awareness of their rights, the government should also view renters’ use of the Database as a critical moment to remind them of their rights.
Collecting Data on Rents Charged
The Government has rightly committed to giving renters greater power to challenge above-market rents.
However, renters cannot be expected to challenge excessive rent increases if they lack access to meaningful information to compare rents in their area.
Public access to current and previous rents being charged – rather than simply advertised asking rents – would provide tenants with the evidence they need to make informed decisions and exercise their rights with confidence.
Inclusion of rent data in the Database would also provide a significantly more reliable set of data than the market listings currently used by the First-tier Tribunal for rent adjudications.
Access to comprehensive data on actual rents is essential following the abolition of rental bidding wars: while this reform is strongly welcomed, there is a risk that some landlords may respond by increasing speculative advertised rents, which in turn could lead to artificial rent inflation if validated by the tribunal.
There are already signs of such inflation in advertised rents, with around 26% of rental listings now reduced in price while advertised – the highest proportion recorded since Rightmove began tracking this metric in 2012.
Public access to accurate rent data would provide an important safeguard, allowing renters and rent adjudicators to assess whether rent increases reflect genuine price conditions in the sector.
Publishing this data would create an invaluable source of information for renters, researchers and the public sector.
It would improve understanding of affordability pressures, help identify areas experiencing excessive rent inflation and enable the development of detailed tools and services to support renters.
Recording rents would also enable HMRC to compare tax records with declared rents, enabling a crackdown on those landlords avoiding tax – estimated to cost as much as £1.7bn per year – which would lead to an increase in government revenue.
Funding Enforcement through the Database
The PRS Database presents a significant opportunity to strengthen enforcement of renters’ rights – including by raising funds to support local authorities work in enforcing landlord legislation.
The effectiveness of the Renters’ Rights Act will ultimately depend not only on the rights it creates, but on the capacity of local authorities to enforce those rights in practice.
Long-term, predictable funding is essential if councils are to recruit staff, undertake investigations and hold landlords to account.
We urge the Government to provide clarity on the PRS Database’s fee structure and the revenue it is expected to generate for local authorities.
We ask that the fee is set to at least £46 per property annually, in line with research by the New Economics Foundation.
A modest fee at this level would provide a sustainable source of funding for local authorities to scale their enforcement activity, while imposing only a minor cost on landlords.
We also ask the Government to confirm that revenue generated through the PRS Database will be ringfenced to support local authorities in delivering their new enforcement responsibilities under the Act.
Implementing the Database at Pace
Enabling renters to enjoy many of their rights established by the Renters’ Rights Act will rely on tenants being able to access key information about landlords, their homes and the rights themselves.
Delays to implementation risk undermining the benefits that Parliament intended this legislation to deliver.
Renters, landlords and local authorities all stand to benefit from a clear timetable and rapid rollout of this important reform.
We urge the Government to implement and publish the Database on a national scale as soon as possible.
The Government must seize this opportunity to deliver better transparency, accountability and enforcement in the private rented sector.
That is why it matters to the undersigned organisations from across the housing sector.
We would welcome the opportunity to discuss these proposals further and continue our constructive engagement with your Department as the PRS Database is developed and rolled out nationally.
Yours sincerely,
Acorn; Camden Federation of Private Tenants; Centre Think Tank; Christians Against Poverty; Common Wealth; Crisis; Disability Positive; End Fuel Poverty Coalition; Generation Rent; Get My Deposit Back; Gingerbread; Greater Manchester Tenants Union; Housing Matters; Impact on Urban Health; Independent Age; Joseph Rowntree Foundation; Legal Action Group; London Renters Union; Marks Out Of Tenancy; Migrants Organise; National Union of Students; New Economics Foundation; New Horizon Youth Centre; Positive Money; Safer Renting; Shelter; Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance; StepChange; Tenants Association of the National Trust; The Nationwide Foundation; Toynbee Hall; UNISON; Voice4Change England; Z2K.
This article is taken from Landlord Today