The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has rejected recommendations that the government needs to empower more councils to introduce selective licensing regimes.
The NRLA was responding to a report from the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee on housing conditions in the PRS.
Identifying selective licensing as a “useful tool”, the report has recommended that more needs to be done by the government so councils can introduce these regimes.
Responding, NRLA CEO Ben Beadle warned against these regimes being used excessively by local authorities and said the body “fundamentally” rejected the idea.
“Licensing can be an effective tool when used sparingly and in a focused manner,” said Ben.
“Allowing local authorities carte blanche to apply it will serve only to duplicate the information councils will be able to obtain from a well-designed PRS database.”
Elsewhere, the NRLA welcomed the report’s embracing of several recommendations the landlord advocacy group has already made specifically around council enforcement.
These have included steps around better understanding council capacity, improving transparency and ensuring the PRS database helps responsible landlords demonstrate compliance.
Ben added: “More broadly, we welcome the Committee’s calls for the courts to be properly resourced to cope with the impact of the [Renters Rights Act], and its rejection of calls for rent controls.
“We agree with the committee that the focus must instead be on ensuring the rental appeals tribunal processes cases far quicker than they do at present.”
