POLITICS Labour Party review: “lettings market is broken”


The Private Rented Sector has become the target of a surprisingly vicious attack by Hilary Benn MP, (pictured above) Labour’s Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary. Launching the Labour Policy Review on Private Rented Housing Mr Benn said, “We need a professional lettings market in which unscrupulous agents can no longer hit landlords and tenants with rip-off charges. The private rented sector should provide stability both for families who want to plan for their children’s future and for landlords who want to


LETTINGS An outstanding year for TDS


In its Annual Review and Accounts for 2011-12, the Tenancy Deposit Scheme has reported a strong set of financial results for an “outstanding year”. These results have enabled the Scheme to reduce membership subscriptions and deliver greater service improvements to customers. In addition to reducing the cost of protecting deposits, the


Scheme has invested substantially in IT and communications with the membership. This investment, the Board believes, has contributed directly to achieving the UK Government’s Customer Service Excellence Award and The PROPERTYdrum Award for Best Tenancy Deposit Service. In their joint foreword to the Annual Review and Accounts,


the Chairman of the TDS, Martin Partington, and Chief Executive Steve Harriott say, “The past financial year has been an outstanding year for Tenancy Deposit Scheme.” Milestones included the launch of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme for Landlords in conjunction with the Residential Landlords Association and the successful joint bid with Scottish partners of SafeDeposits Scotland, a custodial deposit protection scheme. In March this year, the end of the financial year, the Scheme was protecting 870,968 tenancies with a total value of deposits of just under


£1 billion, registered through 4,298 letting agents and corporate and private landlords. With a turnover of £7,115,659 for the year, TDS report a surplus for the financial year of £1,753,783 (down from 2010-11 at £2,811,891 but considerably better than 2009-10 when TDS reported a loss of £604,437). During 2011-12, the Tenancy Deposit Scheme closed over 10,000 deposit disputes and the proportion of disputed deposits awarded to landlords and tenants was about equal. Steve Harriott said, “This is an outstanding set of results for the Scheme. We have reduced membership fees and delivered greater benefits to our customers, and there is more to come! Customers are really seeing dividends from our not-for-profit status and they are taking advantage of our award winning customer service.” For the full Tenancy Deposit Scheme Annual Review and Accounts go to http://multivu. prnewswire.com/tds/170712- annual-report.pdf


PROPERTYdrum AUGUST 2012 7


invest for the long term.” The review seems to encourage the view that most agents are unprofessional (at the very least) stating that the growth of the private rented sector in the UK has, “brought with it growth in agents to help manage the process of letting. Many landlords, particularly small scale ‘amateur’ or ‘reluctant’ landlords do not have the time, resource or experience to act as full-time landlords. For these landlords, good letting and managing agents have a vital role in providing professional input and support. Approximately two thirds of tenancies involve a letting agent.


“The best letting and managing agents provide this professional advice and assistance. However, unscrupulous letting agents undercut their more professional counterparts and tarnish the reputation of the entire sector. Some encourage landlords to


‘...unscrupulous agents who rip off tenants!’


replace tenants regularly so they can earn extra fees, a barrier to a more professional and stable private rental market. Not only


does this deprive tenants, and particularly families, of much needed stability, but also landlords of the benefits of a long-term investment.” The review also attacks fees charged by agents to tenants but with the left wing calling for rent controls to stop rising rents, Mr Benn was cautious, saying the last time such measures were tried in the 1970s landlords fled the market, “We don’t want to return to that because [the rental sector] is meeting a demand for housing”. But he did say that he would consider linking rentals to inflation “on an annual basis”. Jack Dromey MP, Labour’s Shadow Housing Minister, said, “There is no place for unscrupulous agents who rip-off tenants by charging them fees they didn’t know they would face and who exploit landlords and tenants alike by failing to protect the money they hold for them.”


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