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I’ve just read the Communities and Local Government paper, The private rented sector: professionalism and quality which was issued earlier this week.
At first I was enthusiastic. I’m certainly keen on seeing better standards in the private rented sector and felt the earlier Rugg Report made some interesting and wide reaching observations, but half way through the government’s take on it I began to cool off. By the end, the game was up.
Having been a board member of the former Housing Corporation I could see the writing on the wall. It reads something like this:
FACT: There’s too little affordable housing
FACT: Government is broke and can’t fulfil the big house building promises
FACT: Government is obsessed with economies of scale
So, here’s how to square at least part of the circle.
Step 1) Introduce compulsory registration for private landlords and create a Registered Private Landlord (RPL) sector.
Step 2) Cap private rents.
Step 3) Insist on councils having nomination rights as with the Registered Social Landlord (RSL) sector.
Step 4) Make it unlawful for RPLs to refuse unemployed applicants and those evicted from other properties.
Step 5) Force a RPL merger into the RSL sector.
Hey Presto! An increase in social housing supply and a kick in the teeth for mixed communities.
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