The Government’s commitment to making information on rogue landlords and property agents public shows that policymakers are listening to the property sector, according to industry body Propertymark.
As well as making offence data open access, the Government also committed to introducing a new Property Portal alongside their anticipated Database overhaul.
Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, said: “Propertymark has long called for the Database of Rogue Landlords and Property Agents to be made public so the UK Government outlining its intention to do so is a step in the right direction.
“It doesn’t currently make sense that the information is only made available to local authorities.
“Tenants, landlords and lettings agents can’t vet each other, and an open Database would also allow letting agents to use it when recruiting staff and allow professional bodies access for enforcement purposes.”
The new portal will provide a single ‘front door’ for landlords to understand their responsibilities in an effort to reduce criminal activities.
In addition to this, tenants will be given access to information about their landlord’s compliance, as well as local councils being granted new access to improved data in order to crack down on criminal landlords.
Furthermore, the Government plans to bolster the database even further by incorporating some of the functionality of the existing Database of Rogue Landlords and Property Agents.
This announcement comes as a win for Propertymark, who has continually pushed Government to ensure that access to the Database is widened.
It marks a significant milestone in their efforts to ensure potential tenants, current tenants, landlords, letting agents, membership organisations, sector schemes and enforcement bodies know who should and should not be operating.
Douglas added: “It is good that the UK Government have listened to Propertymark, and we are continuing to scrutinise the proposals to ensure that the plans to also reform the threshold of offences to be entered onto the Database are consistent with all forms of prosecution.”
