Landlord problems 'won't be reported'

News Category: Legal

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With the government looking at ways of improving the private rented sector and the Association of Residential Letting Agents introducing a new licensing scheme, the industry has been in focus this month.

The latest professional to comment on the lettings world is independent property expert Malcolm Harrison, who believes that there are some flaws in some of the proposed legislation.

Potential measures to be introduced by the Communities and Local Government department include the implementation of a landlord register, but Mr Harrison said the initiative will only work if people report bad landlords.

"By the nature of things it tends to be that the [people who] most vulnerable [to landlords] are the least articulate," he explained.

"They are not going to go and report it. They may be frightened to, not know if they can, or don't know what should be provided for them."

The property expert suggested it is a "very difficult problem" and a £50 registry fee will not help locate all the bad landlords in the UK.

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