SCOTS: ‘Our landlord register hasn’t worked – so be careful as you plan yours, Mr Gove’

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Scotland’s landlord leader says the “postcode lottery” over how its country’s register is administered means it has failed to weed out bad practices or use the opportunity to communicate with private landlords.

Scottish Association of Landlords chief executive John Blackwood (pictured) is encouraging housing secretary Michael Gove to think carefully about how he can properly achieve the aims of its proposed national register for England – announced today in the government’s levelling up White Paper.

Private landlords in Scotland are legally required to apply for registration with their local authority and get a registration number to show they’ve been approved – which is renewed every three years.

Council control

Its landlord registration scheme delegates maintaining the register to 32 local authorities, which isn’t an ideal situation, says Blackwood, as many landlords own properties in different authorities which means they have to pay multiple registration fees.

More importantly, Blackwood tells LandlordZONE that because of the postcode lottery used to administer the scheme, it isn’t always weeding out bad practice.

You don’t know how many rogue landlords aren’t registering, while there are only a small number who are refused registration,” he says.

“When it was set up, we hoped that the register would be a way for local authorities to communicate with landlords and keep them updated with information about their rights and responsibilities.

Missed opportunity

“But some authorities simply use it to keep a list of landlords which is a missed opportunity. A national register would have an advantage and should be easier to maintain.”

However, one clear benefit is the ability for the public to search the register to find out how to contact the owner of a let property.

Blackwood adds: “The UK government needs to carefully consider what the purpose of the register is and how its effectiveness will be monitored as there is no point it just creating a register of names and addresses for the sake of it.”

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