Trading standards criticised over letting agent enforcement in London In this feature l lettings fees l enforcement l partnership working Sign of the times? A report on enforcement action against letting agents in London makes for sober reading. louise Parfitt reports P rivate renters are being left largely unprotected by letting agents, with 68 per cent of complaints made to trading standards in London since 2015 ignored, according to research organised by MP Sian Berry. Last month, the London Assembly member published abriefing that looked at how well the rules for lettings agents which came into force in May 2015 were being enforced. The results make forsober reading, as they show that there are huge gaps in enforcement across the capital. Since May 2015, there have been 1,351 complaints, but only four of the 31 London boroughs contacted said they had issued penalties. Just 66,000 has been collected in fines during that time and 42,000 of that was by one council. According to Berry, the results indicate that private renters across London of which there are more than 850,000 are woefully unprotected by the current rules on letting, which are enforced by trading standards. This report shows clearly that the system is not working as intended, Berry says. People are not being protected when it comes to the huge issue of housing. The government announced in its Autumn Statement that it plans to follow Scotlands lead and abolish letting fees in England and Wales. A date for the consultation has not yet been set, although the Department for Communities and Local Government told TS Today that this will be announced in due course. Findings The report published by Berry states that, CLampDoWN IN CamDEN since May 2015, trading standards have made Camden is one of the four London boroughs 444 visits to letting agents, sent 363 warning that has issued fines to lettings agents, and it letters, and issued just 99 notices of intent and has generated more final notices (24) than any 52 final notices. other authority in the capital. It also highlights huge disparity across Camden councillor Jonathan Simpson, thecapital when it comes to whether and cabinet member for community safety and the what type of enforcement action should be voluntary sector, says: Many Camden residents taken: only eight borough councils had issued live in privately rented homes and we strongly final notices. believe that these households should not be Martin Harland, lead officer for London unfairly penalised by the bad practices of Trading Standards (LTS) Letting Agents some letting agents. Since 2015, we have been undertaking Working Group, and principal officer at enforcement action against agents, advising Camden Council, is not surprised by the more than 300 operating across the borough findings, and describes the report as a useful on best practice and their legal responsibilities. snapshot of what is going on in London. We have followed this up with enforcement However, he isnt in total agreement with action when needed, including issuing penalty the conclusion that the system is failing charge notices for breaches against a number completely. Trading standards services have of agents, who exploited private tenants taken action they have made visits and sent and landlords through actions such as not warning letters. Where it falls down, as this displaying trading fees, either at their premises report shows, is at the enforcement end, and or on their websites. Some agents have also thats often because the internal systems are received penalty charge notices for not being a member of a redress scheme, as required by not in place to support such action, he says. law, or for not correctly identifying whether they Because officers are issuing penalty are in a client-money protection scheme. This charge notices, you need the internal systems enforcement work is continuing. to deal with issuing them and collecting the penalties. Without these in place, you are limited as to what you can do. Usually, you need full council approval to get these systems in placeand it takes time to set up. Recently, with resource changes, trading standards has been pushed right down the pecking order, so itcan bevery time intensive especially for small teams to get things like this done. The report shows clearly that there is disparity between the action taken by different trading standards teams against letting agents who break the law. All bar two London boroughs received complaints, but five had not made any visits, and seven had not taken any written action. One borough, with 195 complaints, had made only two visits, and not taken any other action. However, another borough with only seven complaints made 28 visits, issued seven final notices and received 11,000 in fines. However, Steve Playe, trading standards manager at the City of London Corporation, says the report must be considered in the context of the dire funding situation. I think the trading standards response across London to the letting agents problem has been excellent in light of the cuts trading standards have faced, he says. Harland agrees and says it comes back to the fact that trading standards teams cover a huge range of enforcement issues and what they are able to do comes down to resourcing and priorities. Trading standards works to a national intelligence model, so letting agents are often not featuring as the biggest priority, he explains. In the councils where more action has been taken, housing is an issue thatis deemed a political priority, and the work of trading standards isrecognised as an integral part of supporting this so there is more partnership working. Also, there is the issue of under-reporting; often, complaints go to the housing team or to other organisations such as Shelter rather than via the Citizens Advice consumer service. They dont always come our way if there isnt this join up. recommendations Banning fees only removes one element of this issue we still may have problems with agents not displaying landlords fees and not being members of a redress scheme Berry believes that a ban on lettings fees will help prevent consumer exploitation. Enforcement against bad practice isnt working, she says. Banning letting fees to tenants would clearly go a long way to cutting down on the exploitation of renters when they can least afford it, and the government should bring in this measure as soon as possible. Harland agrees that banning the fees would be a step in the right direction but he emphasises that it is just a step: It only removes one element of this issue we still may have problems with agents not displaying landlords fees and not being members of a property redress scheme, among other issues. He welcomes the database of rogue landlords proposed by the London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, which was also included in Berrys recommendations. Having such an intelligence-led database would make all trading standards officers and environmental health housing officers much CaLL For CoNTExT better informed, and enable them to focus on CTSI and The Property Ombudsman launched prosecuting the biggest rogues. It would help a joint campaign late in 2016 to tackle letting boroughs to share intelligence, and could then agents who break the law by failing to display be rolled out nationally and made available to their fees. CTSI says this will continue, and other enforcement agencies, Harland says. while its policy and lead officer executive, Khan also pledged to set up a city-wide, Craig McClue, aknowledges the problems not-for-profit lettings agency, which Berrys highlighted by Sian Berrys report, he believes report recommends should go ahead, even if a there needs to be more context. ban on fees to tenants is introduced. There The report does seem to highlight the are still many reasons to provide a fair and inconsistent nature of local trading standards ethical alternative letting agency for enforcement a resource postcode lottery for consumer protection that seems, somehow, Londoners, she says. to have become an unacceptable norm, he Nationally, however, what can trading says. But where it isnt fair is the lack of context standards departments do to ensure letting of services cut by more than 50 per cent over agents are complying with the law? Harland six years, and trading standards having yet says that more are now working on getting more enforcement responsibilities thrust upon the internal systems in place so they can them. ensure tougher action against nonAgainst that background with no clear compliance. I believe enforcement activities priorities set by government trading standards will go up, but by how much, I cant say, he services should be praised for letting noadds. one down, by meaningfully responding to Harland recommends more collaboration issues across the breadth of their burgeoning responsibilities. between local authority housing and trading standards colleagues, to share knowledge and work together to tackle housing issues. He is trying to make this more of a priority by working with the Greater London Authority to get the London boroughs housing teams to work with trading standards and where appropriate with planning enforcement. In a climate of declining resources, the only way forward is to share intelligence and support each other, he says. Only by working in partnership like this can we be really effective in tackling rogue letting agents and landlords. Credits Louise Parfitt is a reporter on TS Today.