Labour plan to add eviction data to landlord database

The most recent Renters’ Rights Bill debates in the House of Lords have revealed that Labour are exploring ways of documenting  evictions and possession data in their proposed ‘landlord database’.

A database of UK landlords and property has been one of the key tenets of Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill from the beginning. Though, it has been less avidly reported compared to the more impactful policies, such as the removal of Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions from law.

The implications of this database were discussed in the House of Lords on Wednesday 14th May. As we have recently reported, many peers were pressured by the Labour whip to work late into the evening to ensure that the committee stage would be finished quickly. The peers were working until 11:40pm; however, the debate was not concluded that night.

What is the purpose of the database?

Like many of the policies proposed in the Renters’ Rights Bill, the landlord database is meant to improve regulation and oversight of the private rental sector (PRS).

Currently, statistical information about the PRS is surprisingly limited. Nobody actually knows for certain how many landlords are operating in the sector, or how many rental properties are on the market.

It is commonly estimated that somewhere in the region of 2.6 million landlords and 4.5 million buy to let properties are in the UK. 

Most data is combined from various government surveys, including the English Housing Survey, the Private Landlord Survey, and the Annual Population Survey.

Data about private landlords can also be gathered from surveys conducted by independent sources like Zoopla and Rightmove, as well as local authorities. 

The issue is that some of these surveys are conducted sporadically and may not give a completely accurate picture. A centralised landlord database should close these gaps and give the government an easier, more reliable reference point.

Another intended purpose for the database is to increase transparency for tenants . Similar to other government resources like Companies House, the landlord database will be accessible to members of the public – partially, at least. The government are still figuring out how much information to make publicly available.

Therefore, tenants searching for properties to rent will be able to easily access information about a property and its landlord before committing to one. 

Lastly, the database will act as a handy referencing guide for landlords struggling to keep up with ever-changing legislation. Landlords will be regularly updated about legal changes by the database once they become a part of it. 

What other information will the database collect?

Some of the information previously expected to be collected in the database includes:

• Properties
• Property owners
• Limited companies managing properties
• Contact details for property owners
• List of offences and penalties given to property owners
• Rent paid for each property
• Compliance to the Decent Homes Standard (DHS)
• Energy efficiency certification

From this, it could be inferred that eviction information would also be documented for completeness; the latest House of Lords debates confirmed this would be the case.

Housing Minister Baroness Taylor of Stevenage made this statement:

We are actively exploring collecting possession information on the database. We have identified various potential benefits to collecting this data - for example, it may support local authorities in identifying where possession grounds have been misused or where tenants are at risk of homelessness. It could also be useful to prospective tenants in making choices about where to rent. 

However, our research has also highlighted some challenges, particularly around accuracy and reliance on landlords self-reporting. We will need to consider carefully how these issues could be managed.

Baroness Taylor went on to allude to how this may be tackled:

Amendments 235, 236 and 238 to 240, taken together, propose changing the Bill’s provisions so that landlords cannot serve notice for possession under Section 8 nor be granted repossession by the courts if they are not compliant with database registration requirements. In addition, the amendments would mean not only that landlords would need to be registered but that their entries would need to be up to date in order for notices served to be valid.

Potential conflicts

Consistent with other reforms proposed by Labour, the database plan has been met with criticism by some private landlords.

Registration to the database will be mandatory for all private landlords before they are able to market or let out a property. Penalties of up to £7,000 could be issued to landlords who fail to register. Repeated compliance failures could incur fines of up to £40,000 alongside criminal prosecution.

Moreover, there will be a registration fee. On top of other increasing expenses resulting from government policies, these are unlikely to be received well. Labour have anticipated this and previously offered assurance that it will “work to ensure that the fee is proportionate and good value.” 

The problem of rising compliance costs was raised by Baroness Scott of Bybrook, a Conservative peer and frequent critic of the Renters’ Rights Bill:

Amendment 228E, also in my name, would prevent the costs of enforcement action against non-compliant landlords being charged to those who have complied with the requirements of this chapter. This part of the Bill seems entirely unfair on law-abiding landlords. We want to understand why landlords who are compliant must bear the costs of enforcement taken against those landlords who fail to comply with the law. 

Baroness Scott continued to question the technical effectiveness of the database. She asked whether landlords will be able to contest any operational failures that may lead to them being fined unnecessarily:

Can the Minister confirm whether landlords who are failed by the database operator will be able effectively to raise that failure? Where database failure has resulted in costs to the landlord, for example through a loss of income because they cannot let without proof of a live and up-to-date entry, would they be entitled to compensation?

In response to a proposed amendment to hold the database operator accountable for updating data within 7 days, Baroness Taylor was elusive:

The noble Baroness, Lady Scott, also asked me about the accountability of the database operator. I will write to her on that point, if that is okay.

Baroness Taylor said that the government were taking precautions to ensure that landlords would not be punished disproportionately when trying to repossess their properties:

Regulations will stipulate the requirements for active and up-to-date entries, and in the meantime the criteria for gaining possession as outlined in the Bill provides an appropriate level of protection for tenants against landlords who fail to register with the database without sanctioning landlords disproportionately. We do not want to risk creating a situation where landlords cannot use Section 8 grounds but have no alternative means of seeking possession.

As the debate continued until 11:40pm, the committee stage had to be resumed the following day. We will keep you updated on how the continuing debates progress.