The ever growing number of tenants in the UK will be better represented in future as landlords, tenants and Government agencies prepare for the Localism Bill which will be introduced next year.
With the UK struggling to ease itself out of the economic downturn and the housing market all but nonexistent, except for property investors interested in buy to let insurance, the number of tenants in the UK has risen dramatically over the last 12 months and is expected to expand for the foreseeable future. For many years landlords have had the choice of registering with several professional bodies to give them help and support, it now seems that tenants will get a similar choice.
A programme agreed between the National Tenant Organisations (NTO) and the Government will see tenant bodies joining to produce a framework for local tenant panels to hold landlords to account. The NTO, which is an amalgam of the Tenant Participation Advisory Service, the National Federation of Tenant Management Organisations, the Confederation of Co-operative Housing, and the Tenants and Residents Organisations are determined to improve the legal standing of tenants. The framework hopes to bring landlords and tenants together to form panels which will ensure the relationship between the two is workable.
The Department for Communities and Local Government has set aside £20,000 to assist the setting up of the panels and hopes to see them implemented by 2012. The NTO is also hoping to set up accreditation schemes similar to those set up by landlord associations with Local Authorities.
Housing Minister Grant Shapps has given his backing to the idea saying he believes it will heighten the quality of tenant accommodation across the country. Nic Bliss, chairman of one of the organisations that make up the NTO, said “Effective local tenant panels are important in the context of local self-regulation of services between tenants and landlords. We know that there are many different approaches to tenant panels out there, and we want to hear from tenants and landlords about good ones.”
The panels are expected to replace the Tenant Services Authority which Minister Shapps has intimated will be scrapped in the near future.