We have had some divisive law changes in the private rented sector over the years but the latest one handing a lot of power to local government is one of the most divisive yet.
I am aware that the RLA have waded into the argument full force and I agree with a lot of what they say but in the interests of fairness I want to air both sides of the argument in two blogs.
For those of you who are unaware a law came into being on October 1st that dictates that local goverments have the power to insist on planning permission being obtained when a landlord wants to let to 3 or more unrelated people. To be fair this is a concession on what the labour party had planned, under their law landlords would have to have applied in every area regardless of demographic.
The RLA’s argument is that not only is this a bureaucratic nightmare it is also on the thin edge of the wedge in terms of social engineering. Chairman of the RLA puts it like this:
“Planning law has always controlled building use, not the relationship between the people who may live there. But now, if a shared house or flat is rented to a single person, or a family, a landlord loses the future right to rent it again as a shared house – without obtaining planning permission.”
And on the social engineering issue he adds:
‘we feel is a dangerous use of planning legislation to dictate who is allowed to live where. ‘
It is clear that the RLA is not happy and I think their position is clear. Next blog I want to look at the motivation of the government in bringing in this new law.
