Is the new London Rental Standard a ‘meaningless gimmick’?

Last month, Boris Johnson launched the London Rental Standard (‘LRS’) in a bid to improve the conditions faced by tenants in London’s sprawling private rental sector. The LRS is a voluntary set of minimum standards expected of landlords, managing agents and letting agents operating in London’s private rental market.

 

The scheme brings together seven landlord accreditation schemes under a single framework and has been drawn up following extensive consultations, including a three month public consultation between December 2012 and February 2013.

 

Certificates of accreditation will be awarded to landlords and letting organisations that meet a number of core requirements, attend a one-day course, sign a code of practice and agree to a declaration stating that they are fit and proper. Many of the common problems experienced by tenants (and already covered by legislation) are touched on in the scheme, including written rental agreements, the need for clarity regarding agency fees, protected deposits and repairs. According to the LRS, urgent repairs should ‘wherever possible…be dealt with within three working days of a landlord being notified’. Additionally, landlords ‘should always be contactable and must respond within a reasonable period of time’.

 

Extortionate agency fees and disproportionately high rental costs are not the only problems London’s tenants are faced with. High costs often bear no relation to the cramped, dingy homes left in poor condition many Londoners have to put up with. Kings Cross based letting agency ‘Relocate Me’ faced a media backlash this month after posting an advert featuring a single bed crammed into a kitchenette, along with a wardrobe (which blocked access to the front door) and a dining room. Described as a ‘modern studio apartment’ in Islington by the letting agent, the flat was on offer for £737 a month and has reportedly been snapped up by one, presumably desperate, tenant.

 

Announcing the new standards scheme, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said, ‘With more of London’s workforce and young families living in rented homes, this growing sector is vital to meeting the capital’s housing needs and must not be overlooked. The standard aims to improve the experience of everyone involved, from landlord to tenant, with a clear set of good practice rules’.

 

However, Labour London Assembly member, Tom Copley, has criticised Boris Johnson for introducing a ‘meaningless gimmick’ and ‘wasting two years consulting on a voluntary standard that is not worth the paper it’s written on’. Mr Copley believes that the Mayor ‘should have been lobbying for government legislation to create longer tenancies as standard, caps on annual rent rises and a ban on letting agents’ fees for tenants’. Grainia Long, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, shares similar reservations. Ms Long hopes ‘that the voluntary nature of the scheme will not undermine its impact. Much work will need to be done to ensure it is not simply ignored by the worst offenders’.  

 A key shortcoming of the scheme is indeed the fact that it is voluntary. ‘Good’ landlords and agencies keen to enjoy the potential business benefits of being part of the scheme will be the ones applying for accreditation, while the ‘rogues’ in the sector are likely to steer well clear of it and continue to exploit prospective tenants desperate for a home in the capital.  Although a small step in the right direction, the LRS is not a failsafe solution for fixing the private rental market both in London and across the UK.