A survey has revealed that with over 145 individual laws and more than 400 regulations to follow, it’s dangerous for landlords to think that can ‘do’ lettings without expert advice.
Research from property website TheHouseShop shows that almost one in five landlords admit it is “impossible” to keep up with constant regulation changes - with a further 30 per cent saying they find it “very difficult” and another 31 per cent finding it “quite difficult”.
The survey, conducted online amongst 1,237 landlords, found that compliance with legislation was listed as the most challenging aspect of managing a rental property by almost two thirds of landlords.
Nick Marr, co-founder of TheHouseShop, says: “It’s a really difficult environment that landlords are operating in at the moment. The government have undertaken a range of measures to try and drive up standards in the rental industry, and while this is by no means a bad thing, it does mean that landlords have increasingly complex and wide-ranging responsibilities to deal with.”
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I agree that "regulation creep" and it's ever increasing scope and complexity is a significant risk and threat for landlords.
There seem to be a number of thrusts for it, including;
(a) central government via HMRC taxing (fleecing, milking and generally exploiting) "sitting duck" residential landlords, and also
(b) councils cashing in as much as possible with all sorts of licensing schemes etc that - to a cynic like me - appear to be entirely for collecting revenue ("licence fees") and generally do nothing whatsoever (except now and again for show and cover). And on top of that
(c) Both main political parties trying to pander to the masses and pretend they are going to deliver cheap but delightfully modern ("state of the art" even") homes for them to buy "cheaply" or "affordably" and until that day (which won't come for most of them) deliver "cheap" or "affordable" or now "living wage" rental properties, also in tip top condition with all rights in favour of the tenant come what may, and the poor beleaguered landlords and agents totally bolloxed. What fun, what a sure-fire vote winner!
"The People" will love it, and luckily few will realise its a pack of hollow un-deliverable promises to pacify them and woo their votes when the time comes and they are needed.
The article generously repeats the - I think lie - that "The government have undertaken a range of measures to try and drive up standards in the rental industry" when really it seems to be far more about about winning votes and raising revenues.... if they REALLY cared about "standards" then I'm sure their new laws, rules and regulations would be rather different in focus and vastly better thought through and drafted.
Never mind landlords not being able to cope; half the agents can't even manage their portfolio properly now because of poor knowledge, or using deliberate underhand methods.
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