Making
progress on some issues often appears to take a long time, even when there is
agreement. I have written previously about the All-Party Select Committee’s
lengthy investigation and report on private rented housing and the government’s
response to our recommendations.
The
private rented housing sector is of increasing importance. According to the
latest figures, 18% of households now live in the private rented sector. That
growth did not suddenly happen following the banking crisis of 2008; it had
been taking place before that over a period of time. Indeed, it has been the
only growing housing sector since 2002, when owner-occupation started to fall
as a percentage of households.
It
is now home to a wider range of households, particularly families with children
who want more security. When people with children change their home that often
means changing schools, and that creates substantial disruption to family life.
We went to Germany, where a far greater proportion of households rent than in
the UK, to find that people literally have tenancies for life, and can pass it
on so that their family members can succeed to it.
We
saw good private rented standards that we ought to seek to emulate here. We made many recommendations for the government to
act on. Having initially dismissed our recommendations for mandatory carbon
monoxide and smoke alarms in private rented homes and for five-yearly checks of
the electrical installations, the Government is now consulting on them.
However,
there are two specific recommendations which the government has rejected so
far. The first is the flexibility of local authority powers to raise standards
and to deal with rogue landlords, and the second is the regulation of letting
agents.
And
the government has yet to respond positively to our call for simpler
regulation, as we currently have a bewildering array of legislation and
regulation. Given its claim that it wants to tackle red tape, such refusal is
surprising.
