Leading property figure calls for ‘tenancy register’ in England and Wales

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The government has missed a trick by not introducing a tenancy register instead of an ‘anti-landlord’ landlord register, one property consultant has claimed.

Blackbird Real Estate founder Richard Berridge says the proposed register fails to see the bigger picture and suggests it should be replaced with something similar to that introduced by the Irish government’s Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2019 which makes registering every private tenancy mandatory.

Updated yearly

As well as recording landlords’ details, this captures essential data about who is renting, how many people, their age, rent paid, tenancy start date, type of home, how many bedrooms and the size. Data must be updated yearly or when there’s a change in the tenancy and is uploaded to a portal.

“Such a register would also level the build-to-rent playing field,” explains Berridge. “It removes the thorny subject of IP, secretive behaviour or commercially sensitive data, and lays bare the performance of each building.

“It could also go some way towards creating a dynamic pricing model.”

The annual cost of registering a tenancy in Ireland is €40 and those landlords who have more than one property can take advantage of a ‘composite registration fee’ of €170 for up to a maximum of ten properties, he says.

Pay to register

“Landlords are going to have to pay to register under the current Renters Reform Bill proposals anyway.” 

Why doesn’t the UK government follow the lead of the Irish? asks Berridge, who insists there is still time to amend proposals.

“Perhaps government’s rather dismal record with anything to do with technology has something to do with it, or perhaps it’s a reluctance to do anything akin to what an EU country does. But unfortunately, I think it’s more to do with their somewhat blinkered view and a landlord hard-line approach.”

Berridge's comment have been made within BTR News.

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