In June 2022, the UK government published a White Paper entitled A Fairer Private Rented Sector, which set out details of its plans for a Renters’ Reform Bill. Some of the main proposals for the bill include the abolition of Section 21 “no fault” evictions; the creation of a national register of landlords; the introduction of a private rented sector ombudsman to help enforce renters’ rights; and more power for local authorities to enforce and protect renters’ rights. In early 2023, the government stated that the bill will be brought forward at the end of the parliamentary session. ¹ The Bill was introduced to Parliament on 17 May 2023, and the time of writing, it is expected to be debated in Parliament in June.

The recommendations in this report focus on the policy changes necessary to make the Renters’ Reform Bill a success.

We believe that there is nothing to be gained by central government deciding on specific aspects of selective licensing schemes for local authorities around the country. Local authorities are best placed to design their licensing and enforcement practices, and they should be free to make decisions and tailor their schemes within a transparent set of guidelines. The current process of confirmatory central government approval is expensive, inefficient and time-consuming for both local and central government.

Recommendations for UK government

To enable local authorities to improve housing standards, the UK government should:

• Reinstate local authorities’ ability to introduce selective licensing schemes independently, by revoking the provision of the 2015 General Approval that required confirmation from the Secretary of State for schemes covering 20 per cent or more of the borough. To complement this, the government should legislate an advisory role for combined authorities and the GLA to promote the good design, harmonisation, and rationalisation of schemes, and to protect local authorities from vexatious judicial reviews. Councils outside of combined authorities should be consulted on alternative ways of fulfilling this advisory function.
• Invest in the local authority housing enforcement workforce to address the shortage of qualified personnel. This should include increasing funding for apprenticeships and graduate traineeships, as well as exploring the potential for a Housing Skills Centre to train future enforcement staff.
• Allow local authorities to enforce problems with property conditions through selective licensing. This would require amending the Housing Act 2004 to allow hazards within the housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS), which are currently governed by Part 1 of the Housing Act, to be regulated through the selective licensing system. This would remove the inefficiencies related to the 24-hour notice period required for HHSRS inspections, and could also enable councils to attach works conditions to selective licences related to Part 1 issues – so that their continuation can be made conditional on landlords making improvements to the property.

Design principles for the Property Portal

To make the Property Portal a useful tool for enforcement, the UK government should design it to be:

Open by design

• Keep the register public wherever possible. Sensitive and personal information should be available only to local authorities to enable enforcement, with adequate safeguards.
• Allow researchers to download structured data from the portal to facilitate innovative research into the private rented sector, with adequate safeguards.
• Host the register on One Login for Government to maximise ease of use.
• Link properties to their Unique Property Reference Numbers, to standardise address references.
• Create unique personal identifiers for landlords. In cases where managing agents are used, create a unique personal identifier for a nominated agent who can respond to issues with the property.

Modular and adaptable

• Enable third parties to easily use anonymised data to conduct research or create innovative services for current and prospective tenants (similar to Transport for London’s open data programme). This would require the creation of an open API (Application Programming Interface).
• Explore the potential for integration with other datasets such as council tax, HMRC, or Universal Credit records. This may require local authorities to be given access to new datasets such as live Universal Credit claims.
• Ensure that the portal is compatible with a potential future short-term-let register.

Complementary to local authority licensing and enforcement

• Ensure clarity around the purpose and remit of both the register and local licensing regimes.
• Delegate enforcement of the register to local authorities – but only if accompanied by a level of funding and technical support that will enable them to carry out enforcement without reducing their ability to meet existing responsibilities.
• Work with local authorities to ensure that data on licensed properties can be automatically uploaded to the portal. If this isn’t feasible, central government should require registrations of properties in licensed areas to provide proof of licensing.
• Give local authorities the flexibility to decide how to punish non-registration, allowing them to choose between prosecution (for serious or multiple offenders) and Civil Penalty Notices (CPNs) or warnings for others. To help fund enforcement, central government should also allow local authorities to retain portal registration fees and CPNs.

Best practice guidelines for local authorities

To maximise the impact of these reforms, local authorities should:

• Use UPRNs in their databases of licensed properties if they are not already doing so. This will allow them to link the data they have already collected with the government’s proposed Property Portal, reducing the costs associated with introducing the latter.
• Collaborate with government to publish standardised, structured open data regarding PRS enforcement, including data on licences applied for and granted, inspection and enforcement figures, housing outcomes, and how these have changed over time. To ensure consistency and enable benchmarking, the government should provide guidance on the types of data to be reported, and should fund councils to do this. They should also publish data collected from local authorities around combatting damp and mould. This will help local authorities that do not have licensing schemes to make the case for introducing them, as well as building awareness of schemes’ benefits among tenants and landlords.
• In collaboration with the government, invest in communication with tenants about their rights and the support available to them. This should include means of redress and rent repayment orders, as well as links to the Mayor of London’s Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker, Report a Rogue tool, and Property Licence Checker.
• Strengthen working relationships between different disciplines in housing enforcement. Move towards building cross-departmental working groups that bring together planning enforcement, council tax, homelessness, licensing, environmental health and other areas. This will break through siloes and facilitate the sharing of data and expertise across teams.
• To enable collaboration and research, develop standardised memorandums of understanding to share licensing data across borough boundaries and with central government.