Review out to aid tenants

Published:

A NEW review aimed at improving the management and conditions of people living in houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) has been launched by Housing and Planning Minister Caroline Flint.

The review will identify what more the planning system can do to create more effective management of HMOs for all tenants. It will feed into the private rented sector review announced in January which is already looking into standards of accommodation and the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants.

Caroline Flint said: “It is not acceptable that, in too many areas, people living in HMOs and local communities alike are having their quality of life affected.

“We must have balanced, sustainable communities where settled communities can live side by side with those in HMOs.

“The new HMO licensing scheme and tenancy deposit schemes are already making a difference but I want to know what more we can do to provide the right housing in the right place, guarantee proper living conditions for all and ensure our towns are places people want to live and work in over the long term.”

The new survey found that a quarter of all landlords have been letting for less than five years. A third of those are individual landlords, compared with company landlords where more than a third have been in business for more than 40 years.

Results also showed that individual landlords tend to offer properties in a better condition than property companies.

Two-thirds of landlords had carried out maintenance in the last year, with a quarter spending more than £1,000, but this has not always been on the worst properties.

In a market that requires deposits in more than 75% of properties, there was some reassuring news for tenants – more than two-thirds of the landlords surveyed returned deposits in full. More than 50% of tenancies ended because the tenant was moving and only 6% because the landlords wanted the tenant out.

There is strong evidence that the new Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme is already helping tenants keep their deposits secure – almost £1billion has been effectively safeguarded in the first year. The survey showed that almost two-thirds of landlords were aware of the new scheme and 50% said they planned to use it, though in some cases, landlords and agents were still holding the deposit.