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2. Management of the registration Process

This section of the report outlines recommendations and good practice in relation to the management of the landlord registration process, including resource planning and corporate priority given to the scheme.

2.1 Management Structure

In general, the landlord registration function has been slotted into existing management structures (either in Housing or Licensing/Legal/Environmental Health departments), except where the local authority has used both landlord registration and the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 as a stimulus to assemble a specialist private sector housing team.

As a result each authority has taken a very different approach to the management, implementation and to a lesser extent enforcement, of registration. It is apparent that there tends to be two different philosophies in operation dependent on where registration is based in an authority. These are:

• Based in Licensing/Legal/Environmental Health

Where landlord registration is based in Licensing, Legal and Environmental Health departments/teams, the philosophy appears to be to use enforcement to drive improvement in the sector. Here processes are often built to support enforcement and any potential court/legal action against landlords.

• Based in Housing

Where landlord registration is led by teams based in Housing departments, there tends to be a focus on gaining a greater understanding of the sector but also to support landlords to improve conditions. These teams are more likely to have well established working relationships with other departments such as environmental health, housing benefit, antisocial behaviour teams, noise teams and homelessness services.

Good Practice Recommendation

It is recommended that a dedicated private sector manager responsible for all private sector housing issues is likely to generate a team large enough to manage effectively the workload peaks involved in landlord registration and to establish sound expertise in this area and related private sector housing issues.

However, it is recognised that the creation of such a structure may be dependent on the size of the local authority and the scale of the private rented sector in operation. Where these economies of scale cannot be generated it is advised that an officer be identified as a coordinator for the whole process. For example, where the registration function is located in licensing, the appointed coordinator will assist with parts of the process that are based in other departments. .

Good Practice Examples

Falkirk Council has developed a private sector team with a broad range of skills appropriate to manage, implement and enforce landlord registration. This team is based in Housing and Social Work Services and includes staff with backgrounds in Social Work, Housing, Conflict Resolution, Maintenance and the Police.

Dundee City Council has a Private Sector Services Unit which is based in housing and includes responsibility for grants, HMO licensing, enforcement and landlord accreditation. In the future the Scheme of Assistance will also be based in this unit.

Glasgow City Council developed an arms length management organisation called Glasgow Community and Safety Services. Within this organisation a Private Landlord Registration Unit has been established which is responsible for the implementation and enforcement of landlord registration.

Edinburgh City Council has had a dedicated private housing section for a number of years now and in addition has a separate private rented section. Both sections work with each other to provide a comprehensive service to the private sector in the city. In particular, both work closely with Letwise which has recently been acknowledged by the Scottish Government as 'best practice' provider of advice and assistance to private landlords and tenants.

2.2 Staff Structure and Sufficient Resources

A clear finding has been that the scale of the administrative function of registration has been significantly underestimated by most local authorities. Resources have been made available by the Scottish Government to each authority in the form of grant funding, however, to date this has been significantly under spent across Scotland. In a number of authorities either insufficient resources have been dedicated to the function or the resources dedicated have only been made available on a temporary basis.

It appears that resource planning for registration falls into two categories:

• resources for 'fire-fighting' i.e. tackling accumulated backlogs and general registration process; and/or
• resources necessary to provide a service to the sector i.e. taking enquiries from the sector, publicising registration, providing information and advice and sign-posting to appropriate agencies, complaints and public/internal perception that registration is responsible for enforcement.

Good Practice Recommendation

Our good practice recommendation is to review the sector within the Council area, assessing and putting in place the resources and skills necessary to ensure that all landlords are registered. This will include:

• preparing an up to date assessment of the size of the sector within the authority based on researched evidence including the level of applications received so far, Council Tax records, Housing Benefit records, Council of Mortgage Lender statistics and small area Census analysis. This assessment should be used to identify the number of staff required to deliver the landlord registration function;
• designing the process through which the authority will deliver a comprehensive registration function. This should include planning for:
• processing new applications;
• aligning payment and debt management mechanisms with the registration process;
• establishing comprehensive job recording and monitoring processes;
• reviewing applications ;
• fit and proper person assessments;
• enforcing compliance with registration requirements;
• identifying non registered landlords;
• actions for non registration;
• continuous amendment/updating of process;
• continuous renewal process;
• provision of information and advice to sector landlords, tenants, general public, elected members, other departments linking to strategic functions. This includes general enquiries, committee reports, attending promotional events, landlords' forums etc; and
• decisions, appeals, enforcement and legal action;
• identifying within each part of the process the appropriate grade and mix of skilled staff required to undertake each task. Where the authority identifies the overall workload to be comparatively small ( i.e. one to two individuals) care should be taken to integrate the identified staff within a management structure that will provide necessary support to discharge the registration function.

2.3 Skills Appropriate for Tasks Required

Authorities were asked to outline the main skills they felt necessary in the implementation of landlord registration. These were:

• IT skills including knowledge of databases, online systems, Microsoft Excel, Word and where appropriate Access skills;
• administration skills;
• communication skills;
• mediation/conflict resolution skills;
• knowledge of landlord's legal obligations and private rented sector legislation, including the Repairing Standard, Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, Antisocial Behaviour Etc (Scotland) Act;
• provision of information and advice;
• experience in gathering and presenting appropriate evidence for Court Action including interviewing skills and taking witness statements; and
• enforcement action.

The areas where authorities reported they would like more clear and precise guidance on include;

• types of investigative action that can be taken as part of an enforcement process;
• types of evidence to be collated as part of an enforcement process and how this can be used to inform decision making, appeals and the Procurator Fiscal;
• types of information and advice to be provided to landlords, agents and tenants where enforcement action is being taken or sanctions being implemented;
• rights and responsibilities of landlords, agents and tenants within the private rented sector.

Good Practice Recommendation

While there is a standard level of IT, administrative and communication skills within registration teams there is also a requirement for all staff likely to engage with the public to have a reasonable understanding of current private landlord legislation. If this knowledge is not based internally, authorities should look either to partnership working with or sign-posting landlords, tenants, public and staff to external agencies that can provide the appropriate information and/or advice.

Where this knowledge is not based within an authority, there may be the capacity for local authorities to share knowledge, expertise and training materials. In particular;

• types of investigative action that is being taken as part of an enforcement process;
• types of evidence that is being collated as part of an enforcement process and how this is being used to inform decision making, appeals and the Procurator Fiscal;
• types of information and advice to be provided to landlords, agents and tenants where enforcement action is being taken or sanctions being implemented;
• experiences of presenting evidence to the Procurator Fiscal;
• information and advice on tenancy law, including landlords and tenants legal obligations, returning deposits and illegal evictions;
• understanding the complex ways in which the sector operates i.e. companies etc; and
• links to new or other private sector related legislation, including the Private Rented Housing Panel.

Good Practice Examples

East Renfrewshire Council: Here staff actively sign-post landlords to the appropriate services within the Council and external agencies such as Citizens Advice Bureau or the local Police for information, advice and support.

Falkirk Council: The team has received a significant level of independent training from outwith the Council on issues such as tenancy agreements, tenancy deposits etc and plan to establish a web-link to this information on the Council's website. There are also plans in place to collate information packs for landlords. Also as part of their Landlord Accreditation Scheme, landlords are required to undertake accreditation training and therefore some of this information will be available for reference.

East Lothian Council: The Council have prepared a suite of standard letters as part of their enforcement process to ensure payment for landlord registration, including the implementation of rent penalty notices. These are available to other local authorities for adaptation.

2.4 Strategic Overview and Corporate Policy

While all authorities see the benefits of linking landlord registration to wider corporate policies, each has tended to have had a different approach. As a result, there is a wide spectrum of approaches from the creation of specific private sector teams to single function activities scattered throughout the authority but sufficient to meet the basic legislative requirements. However, regardless of where landlord registration is based or how it is structured within an authority, it is essential that in order to ensure compliance that structural recognition is given to the wider strategic context. For example how registration links with:

• implementation of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, in particular the landlord's legal obligations to meet the Repairing Standard and how this links into decisions made by the Private Rented Housing Panel;
• Local Housing Strategies;
• Housing Option Guides;
• Private Sector Housing Strategies;
• Homelessness and Temporary Accommodation Strategies;
• Antisocial Behaviour Strategies;
• Landlord Accreditation Schemes;
• Landlord Forums; and
• HMO licensing and enforcement teams.

In addition, joint working across local authority departments is essential, as is close working with external agencies.

Good Practice Recommendation

In order to implement and enforce landlord registration and to discharge statutory duties, it is essential that there is close collaborative working between the following Council functions:

• Housing;
• Homelessness;
• Environmental Health;
• Building Control;
• Licensing;
• Housing Benefit;
• Finance;
• Council Tax;
• Legal;
• Waste Management;
• Private Sector Housing Teams;
• Housing Strategy/Policy Officers;
• Antisocial Behaviour Teams;
• Landlord Forums;
• Landlord Accreditation Schemes;
• Tenants and Residents Associations;
• Community Wardens; and
• Social Work.

Where specific expertise is not available within the Council, joint working with external agencies/services can ensure compliance. These agencies will include:

• Police;
• Citizens Advice Bureau;
• Local Housing Associations and RSLs;
• Colleges, University Accommodation Offices and Student bodies;
• Letting agencies, property agents and solicitors; and
• Buy-to-let mortgage lenders.

If the issue of data protection and information sharing is a concern of any authority or department, there are provisions made for this within the Antisocial Behaviour Etc (Scotland) Act 2004. It is also important that internal departments recognise landlord registration as a useful source of information on the sector which can be used as a mechanism to support other statutory functions and/or as a tool to be utilised to improve conditions in the sector. The good practice examples that follow outline recommended approaches:

Good Practice Examples

East Renfrewshire Council: The team works closely with the local Citizens Advice Bureau and the Rent Deposit Scheme within the Council. The Council also has an advice and assistance officer and a local landlord forum with which to share information and advice.

Dundee City Council: The Council works closely with the local Rent Registration Service, Dundee Landlord Accreditation, Procurator Fiscal, Community Intelligence Unit (Tayside Police) and the Night Time Noise Team (Environmental Health). Newly appointed enforcement officers have links with local Police (ex Police officers) and the team has regular contact with Tayside Police where there are 'fitness' concerns. A Joint Officers Review Group has also been established and contains representatives from Environmental Health, Finance (Revenue & Housing Benefit), Antisocial Behaviour team, Economic Development, Waste Management team, Homelessness Services, Legal and Housing. Here each representative has local authority user rights to the IT system and also the Review List is circulated to each to ask for any concerns.

South Lanarkshire Council: A corporate working group was set up to deal with landlord registration. This included representatives from Legal, Housing & Technical Services, Environmental Health, Social Work, Corporate Resources and the local Police and Fire and Rescue services.

Falkirk Council: Falkirk has been very proactive in encouraging joint working within the authority. For example the team:

• invited a member of staff from every section in every department of the Council to briefing sessions on Landlord Registration.
• has run briefing sessions for local RSLs, Central Scotland Police, Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service, local letting agents and Landlords; and
• carried out two sets of briefing sessions with the local area offices, firstly to raise initial awareness of registration and secondly to inform them of the Council's approach and process. It also has regular contact with the area offices.

2.5 Monitoring and Performance Review

While most authorities have a clear understanding of the basic numbers of landlords at each stage in the process, there is an overall lack of detailed job monitoring that supports both resource planning and performance review.

Whilst local authorities acknowledged that the Access download was available from the Landlord Registration system, most reported either, a lack of skills to successfully interrogate it within the authority, the appropriate licences were not available or that the authority's IT provider does not support it and therefore an alternative requires to be devised. Where local authorities have used the Access facility, they have reported that improvements could be made to ensure it is more simplistic to operate and that the reports it produces are consistent.

However, City of Edinburgh Council, have reported that they successfully use the Access download facility and have adapted it to suit their specific reporting needs. They no longer rely upon the end of day downloads.

Good Practice Recommendation

While the IT system provides outline management information it does not support the detailed case monitoring necessary to effectively manage the process. As a result, a number of authorities have developed either manual processes or IT systems to record, track and support effective monitoring and review of performance.

Where the Access software is available within local authorities, the Access download can be a useful reporting tool. It is recommended that consultation with local authorities on how to improve the specific reporting functions of the current download be conducted and an associated training session and training guide be prepared for dissemination.

Where Access is not available it may be appropriate to look at similar software currently available within the authority and adapt accordingly. Local authorities are recommended to work closely with their current IT providers to develop appropriate mechanisms by which to manage the registration process.

Good Practice Examples

North Lanarkshire Council: The Council has used standard job tracking software, Flare Action Report Generator to log each application, which is then tracked through a sequence of events that enables monitoring and review of exactly where an application is within the process.

Falkirk Council: The Council have created a series of spreadsheets to monitor progress which are available as templates for other authorities to adapt.

City of Edinburgh Council: In order to manage the scale of applications the Council has been working with a download of the Access database but this is not a refined tool. It has proven useful when processing applications in batches but has not yet leant itself to routine processing.

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