HOUSING: ENCOURAGING RESPONSIBLE LETTING Cm 7456
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The Law Commission (LAW COM No 312) HOUSING: ENCOURAGING RESPONSIBLE LETTING Presented to the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice by Command of Her Majesty August 2008 Cm 7456 £17.50 Crown Copyright 2008 The text in this document (excluding the Royal Arms and other departmental or agency logos) may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium providing it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context.The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and the title of the document specified. Where we have identified any third party copyright material you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. For any other use of this material please write to Office of Public Sector Information, Information Policy Team, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU or e-mail: [email protected] ISBN: 9780101745628 ii THE LAW COMMISSION The Law Commission was set up by the Law Commissions Act 1965 for the purpose of promoting the reform of the law. The Law Commissioners are: The Honourable Mr Justice Etherton, Chairman Professor Elizabeth Cooke1 Mr David Hertzell Professor Jeremy Horder Mr Kenneth Parker QC Professor Martin Partington CBE, QC was Special Consultant to the Law Commission responsible for housing law reform during the work on this report. The Chief Executive of the Law Commission is Mr William Arnold. The Law Commission is located at Conquest House, 37-38 John Street, Theobalds Road, London WC1N 2BQ. The terms of this report were agreed on 15 July 2008. The text of this report is available on the Internet at: http://www.lawcom.gov.uk/housing_renting.htm 1 Professor Elizabeth Cooke was appointed a Law Commissioner with effect from 3 July 2008, in succession to Mr Stuart Bridge, on completion of his term of office. iii THE LAW COMMISSION HOUSING: ENCOURAGING RESPONSIBLE LETTING CONTENTS PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Introduction 1 Background 1 Terms of reference 2 The changing policy context 2 The focus on the private rented sector: the regulatory challenge 4 The costs of improved compliance 6 Approaches to regulation 7 Additional benefits 7 The regulatory issues 7 Provision of information about the letting contract 8 Tenancy deposits 8 Occupier compliance with the agreement 8 Anti-social behaviour 8 Principal conclusions 9 Structure of this report 9 PART 2: THE CASE FOR CHANGE 10 Introduction 10 Defining housing management: the essential core 10 The private rented sector today 11 Existing ways of encouraging responsible renting 12 Use of the courts 12 Local authorities 14 Landlord representative bodies 17 Letting agents' representative bodies 17 iv Consultation paper: provisional proposal 18 Conclusions 20 PART 3: CHANGING APPROACHES TO REGULATION 22 Introduction 22 Smart regulation 22 Better regulation 23 Risk-based regulation 24 Regulating the private rented sector 24 Housing Act 2004 26 Voluntary codes 26 Adapting smart regulation to the private rented sector: the importance of partnership 26 Underlying policy principles 27 Responses to consultation 28 Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill 29 Conclusion 30 PART 4: OPTIONS FOR CHANGE 31 Introduction 31 Better provision of information 31 Model agreements 31 Other channels of communication 32 Option 1: enhancing voluntary self-regulation 33 Option 2: enforced self-regulation 34 Advantages 36 Challenges 37 Option 3: licensing 40 Mandatory licensing 40 Implied, or "negative," licensing 42 Home condition certification 43 Conclusion 44 v PART 5: RESPONSES TO THE CONSULTATION PAPER: A SUMMARY 45 Introduction 45 General comments 46 The need for regulation 46 A new regulatory approach 46 Other ideas 47 Comments on the options for change 47 Enhanced voluntary self-regulation 47 Enforced self-regulation 48 Licensing 50 Home condition certificates 50 Comment 51 PART 6: ENSURING RESPONSIBLE LETTING: RECOMMENDATIONS 52 Introduction 52 The changing context 53 Underlying principles 53 Regulatory impact assessment 54 Fundamental issues 55 1. Implementing renting homes 55 2. Changing the regulatory approach - smart regulation 55 Introducing compulsion? 57 More detailed recommendations 57 The national provision of landlord accreditation schemes 58 Establishment of a housing standards monitor for the private rented sector 58 Appointment of a stakeholder board 62 Publication of a single code of good housing management practice for land law 63 Setting up a national landlords' register 64 Regulation of letting agents 65 Development of new channels for dealing with complaints and the redress of grievances 66 vi Piloting home condition certificates 67 Other matters 68 Enhancing the role of local authorities 68 Retaliatory eviction 68 Incentives 69 Evaluation 70 Concluding remarks 70 Recommendations 71 APPENDIX A: RESPONDENTS TO CONSULTATION PAPER 73 List of respondents to consultation paper 73 Landlords 73 Letting agents' associations 74 Tenants and tenants' representatives 75 Local authorities 75 Local authority groups 76 Other professional organisations 76 Lawyers 76 Judges 77 Academics 77 Others 77 . APPENDIX B: ANALYSIS OF RESPONSES TO THE CONSULTATION PAPER 78 1. Enhancing voluntary self-regulation 78 Can voluntary self-regulation reach those landlords whose behaviour is most problematic? 81 Does membership of a landlord association or accreditation scheme necessarily deliver better landlord behaviour? 83 Who would regulate the regulators? 85 2. Enforced self-regulation 85 General comments 86 Issues raised by respondents 88 Alternative approaches and suggestions 112 vii 3. Expanding licensing 115 The response 115 4. Home condition certification 119 Support for the principle of home condition certification 119 Less positive responses 121 Practical issues 122 viii THE LAW COMMISSION HOUSING: ENCOURAGING RESPONSIBLE LETTING To the Right Honourable Jack Straw MP, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice PART 1 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION 1.1 This report completes the Law Commission’s major programme of work on the reform and modernisation of housing law and practice. 1.2 Renting Homes set out recommendations for a new legal framework to underpin the relationship between landlords and those who occupy rented accommodation.1 Our recommendations were based on two fundamental principles: (1) landlord-neutrality, to enable the creation of a single social tenure2 that would facilitate the flexible provision and management of social housing; and (2) consumer protection, designed, among other objectives, to ensure that both parties to rental agreements have a clearer understanding of their respective rights and obligations. 1.3 However clear and rational the law is, problems and disputes will continue to arise. The Housing Disputes report made recommendations for dealing more proportionately with housing problems and disputes.3 1.4 This report deals with issues that arise from the other two reports. Does the current law work as effectively as it should? How can the consumer protection approach be delivered in practice? Are there better ways to regulate the landlord- occupier relationship? Can housing problems and disputes be prevented by encouraging better management? If so, how can this be done? BACKGROUND 1.5 As explained in our Consultation Paper,4 the focus of this report is on the private rented sector. We start by summarising the background to the project. 1 Renting Homes: The Final Report (2006) Law Com No 297, http://www.lawcom.gov.uk/docs/lc297_vol1.pdf. 2 This would alter the current law whereby local authorities can only let on secure and introductory tenancies, and housing associations have to let on assured tenancies. This prevents flexibility in the provision and allocation of social housing. 3 Housing: Proportionate Dispute Resolution (2008) Law Com No 309, http://www.lawcom.gov.uk/docs/lc309.pdf. 1 Terms of reference 1.6 From the start of our programme of work on the reform of housing law, we intended to consider some of the issues which fall under the general head of “encouraging responsible letting”. Our original idea was to examine, in particular, the law on unlawful eviction and harassment. In that specific form, it would have been a very narrow project. 1.7 By the time of the publication of the Commission’s Ninth Programme of Law Reform (March 2005), the terms of reference were somewhat broader: (1) To review the relevant housing law, and proposals for reform of the law, and to make recommendations in relation to: (a) the appropriate legal framework necessary to promote and secure compliance by both landlords and occupiers with their existing or proposed legal obligations; (b) the procedures available to landlords, occupiers and affected third parties in relation to compliance, with particular regard to preventing or remedying anti-social behaviour; and (c) such provisions of the criminal law as may be necessary to reinforce the above. (2) To consider the extent to which the principles and procedures available in connection with anti-social behaviour by rental-occupiers should also apply to similar behaviour by owner-occupiers. 1.8 Having embarked on the project, we realised that simply looking at details of the law, and its possible amendment, would be unlikely to address the fundamental regulatory challenge. There is already a vast amount of housing law.5 If it does not work well, then simply recommending detailed changes to the law would be unlikely to promote and secure better management practice. We therefore moved away from a focus on the rules themselves to consider their effectiveness.