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Thousands of landlords still haven’t signed up to Rent Smart Wales
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
Concerning new figures have revealed that thousands of landlords in Wales have not yet signed up for Rent Smart Wales. This is despite there being less than two months remaining before the scheme becomes a mandatory requirement.
Rent Smart Wales
Rent Smart Wales is a registration and licensing system in Wales, which went live last year. The scheme requires all landlords and letting agents to register their properties and undergo training to obtain a licence should they wish to self-manage their investment.
Landlords and letting agents in Wales have been given a deadline of 23rd November in which to comply with the new legislation. After then, it becomes a criminal offence to let or manage a property without the sufficient licence.
In particular, landlords in Swansea are causing concern, with extremely low numbers signed up to the scheme.
A Freedom of Information request has revealed that only 1,565 landlords in Swansea had already registered with Rent Smart Wales at the end of August. This is only just over a fifth of the total number of landlords required to do so.
Quality
The scheme is designed to improve the quality of rental accommodation in Wales, through both providing training courses and giving local councils a better understanding of where properties are situated.
However, Rent Smart Wales estimates that 8.3% of homes in Swansea are privately rented. This amounts to around 7,500 eligible properties in the city.
Welsh Liberal Democrat politician, Peter Black, noted: ‘with the registration period almost over, the failure to enlist the vast majority of landlords into this compulsory scheme has put it into crisis mode.’[1]
‘Unless there is a surge of registrations in the final two months then it will become impossible to administer this scheme effectively. Swansea tenants will miss out on the protections offered by the legislation and those living near badly managed privately rented properties will have fewer options to deal with problems.’[1]
‘This is not Swansea Council’s fault. This scheme is being administered by Cardiff Council on behalf of the Welsh Government. However, ministers are trying to do it on the cheap. They have not given sufficient resources to Rent Smart Wales to promote the scheme and councils do not have funds to chase those who do not register,’ he continued.[1]
Thousands of landlords still haven’t signed up to Rent Smart Wales
Numbers
According to a Welsh Government spokesperson, more than 19,000 private landlords in Wales have signed up to the scheme. In addition, more funding has been made available to local authorities to enforce the scheme.
The spokesperson said, ‘after just nine months, more than 19,000 private landlords have registered and more than 33,000 have taken the first step and opened accounts on the scheme. This compares with just 3,000 or so registered with the previous voluntary scheme.’[1]
‘We are committed to improving the arrangements for people who rent their home from private landlords and the benefits of Rent Smart Wales are already emerging-96% of those who have completed the relevant training have said it will make them a better landlord.’[1]
[1] https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/9/thousands-of-landlords-have-not-signed-up-to-the-rent-smart-wales-scheme
