A campaign launched by a Scottish Council to find landlords not signed up to local authority landlord registration schemes has resulted in 1,029 owners added to the register.
The Landlords Registration Scheme was introduced by the Scottish Government almost six years ago and made it an offence for a private landlord to rent a property without first being registered with their local authority. It was devised to ensure that tenants could be guaranteed their accommodation would be up to a certain standard. The scheme requires the landlord to have correct certification and buy to let insurance. At the start, around 1,350 private landlords did not hesitate to sign up to the scheme which is there for the benefit of both landlords and tenants.
There were many more unregistered, however, and this led to the council appointing a registration manager eighteen months ago. In that time the number of landlords registering has soared. Any private landlord who refuses to sign up faces a massive fine of £5,000 and the possibility of having their rental income seized under the Antisocial Behaviour Act.
A council spokesman said: “On August 17, 2010, the council’s resources committee agreed to establish a new post of HMO licensing/landlord registration manager to provide the necessary resource to develop a more rigorous monitoring and compliance regime. This decision was implemented, resulting in significant improvements in performance. At October 31, 2010, there were 3,616 approved landlord registrations in Dumfries and Galloway.”
When an application to join the register is submitted, checks are made to see if the landlord has committed any criminal offences such as fraud or violence. It costs £55 for a landlord to register and a further £11 for each property that they rent out.