« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Background
Under the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 ("The Act") since 30 April 2006, all owners of privately rented housing in Scotland have been required to apply for registration with their local authority. Mandatory registration is an important strand of the Scottish Government's wider policy framework for the private rented sector, designed to increase standards of management and property condition across the sector, and, by so doing, to reinforce the positive contribution the sector makes to meeting housing need in Scotland.
Responsibility for implementing landlord registration rests with local authorities. Each local authority is responsible for maintaining a register of landlords. Before registering a landlord, a local authority must be satisfied that he or she is 'fit and proper' to let property. In assessing whether an applicant is fit and proper, local authorities must take account of a range of information, including convictions. Applications can be made either on paper or online at www.landlordregistrationscotland.gov.uk. A landlord must apply for registration in all local authorities where he or she lets privately rented property, unless an exemption applies. Where an agent is declared as acting on behalf of a landlord within an application for registration, then that agent must also be assessed as fit and proper.
There have been a number of difficulties with the implementation of landlord registration and the Scottish Government has made the successful delivery of the scheme a priority since May 2007. Over the last year significant progress has been made. The latest registration approvals figures show that 84% of all applications for registration have now been assessed and approved nationally. This is against a backdrop of increasing numbers of applications (87,875 applications received by May 2007, 131,298 applications received by 26 November 2008).
In response to the difficulties experienced in the delivery of the scheme, the Scottish Government committed to review the implementation of landlord registration. In late 2007, Arneil Johnston was commissioned to undertake a Good Practice Review of the implementation of the scheme by local authorities 1. Arneil Johnston made a number of recommendations aimed at streamlining delivery and making the scheme more efficient. The recommendations focussed in the main on changes to local authority business practices and processing arrangements. The Scottish Government is currently working with local authorities to take these recommendations forward.
A number of the Good Practice recommendations touched on aspects of the existing legislative framework and areas where this might be improved to further streamline delivery of the scheme. Arneil Johnston therefore undertook further work to focus specifically on the legislation underpinning the scheme and consider opportunities to make this more efficient and reduce administrative complexity. A key element of this work was to consider these issues in the context of the start of the application renewal process. An application for registration is valid for 3 years from the point that the application is approved by a local authority. As the first application was approved in March 2006, the first registration is due to expire in March 2009.
Arneil Johnston held two focus groups - one with representatives from local authorities, and a second with landlord and agent representative bodies and organisations representing tenants - to explore aspects of the current operation of the scheme and areas where changes to legislation may make the operation of the scheme more effective, particularly in relation to registration renewals.
As a result of the focus groups and the subsequent Arneil Johnston Legislative Report, a consultation on amendments to the secondary legislation underpinning landlord registration was produced.
Legislative Context
Ministers have a number of regulatory powers under the Act. These include powers to:
- prescribe information that must be included in an application for registration (Section 83(1)(d) of the Act);
- specify fee levels and how they are determined (Section 83(3) of the Act);
- modify exemptions for particular categories of dwelling (Section 83(7) of the Act);
- make regulations requiring local authorities to provide advice and assistance to landlords and tenants (Section 99 of the Act);
- specify that the tenant is not required to repay any rent due for the period of a rent penalty notice (Section 97(7) of the Act).
The Consultation Process
The consultation papers were published on 18 July 2008 on the Scottish Government website (papers were sent out to all registered landlords and agents and relevant stakeholders, as well as being put on the website). The intended audience of the consultation included landlords/agents and local authorities, along with other groups who were affected by the proposals, for example, insolvency practitioners.
The aim of the consultation was to seek views on proposed amendments to Regulations made under the Act. The full set of consultation questions can be found in Annex 1.
In summary, the consultation proposed to amend aspects of the fee and discount structure underpinning the scheme; to provide a 6 month exemption from registration for private insolvency practitioners; and to extend the duty on local authorities to provide advice and assistance to tenants.
The closing date for receipt of written responses was 10 th October 2008. A total of 141 responses were received. The responses are available from the Scottish Government Library and were also published on the Scottish Government website on 19 th November 2008.
Of the 141 responses, 103 were from landlords/agents, 24 were from local authorities and 7 from housing organisations. The breakdown of other responses is as follows: landlord organisations (2), tenant/student organisations (2), other bodies (2) and 1 Trust.
Respondents were asked to complete a respondent information form, which asked for contact details and whether any respondent wished to remain anonymous. Not all respondents returned this form. Direct quotations have only been used where the respondent indicated they would be happy for their response to be made public.
The report and approach to analysis
This report details the key themes and findings to emerge from the consultation exercise. Those participating in the consultation exercise were self-selecting. The consultation exercise was intended to give all interested parties an opportunity to comment on the amendments to secondary legislation and as such was not intended to seek nationally representative views. It should be noted that the views expressed in this report are those of the organisations that responded and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Scottish Government. Throughout the analysis and in the reporting of consultation responses there has been no attempt to verify if any of the legal issues raised in responses are correct.
The analysis was conducted by the Private Rented Sector Team of the Housing Markets and Supply Division of the Scottish Government.
The analytical framework used in the analysis of the consultation responses was an Excel spreadsheet specifically written for the consultation. This enabled qualitative analysis to be undertaken. The fields used to record the material in the Excel database were based on the questions set out in the consultation paper. The text from free flowing responses was, where possible, assigned to a specific question and stored in the relevant field.
Responses to each question and emergent themes were examined by response type, allowing commonalities and differences between consultee groups to be identified. On the whole, most of the key themes were apparent in responses across all consultee groups.
« Previous | Contents | Next »