A Private Members' Bill, sponsored by Bob Blackman MP, to regulate private rented sector provision of supported housing to vulnerable tenants is to have its second reading in the House of Commons this week (18th November).

Haringey Council's new large selective licensing scheme will go live on 17th November meaning that, after that date, any private rented sector landlord operating rental properties in the borough without having applied for or been granted a licence (per property) to so operate will be operating illegally.

Two just published documents could, perhaps, point to a way that local authorities could better persuade private rented sector (PRS) landlords that there are benefits to selective licensing schemes.

The public consultation opened on November 1st and closes on 31st January with the aim "to ensure that all rented properties are safe and well managed [and] ...... to better understand how and where [the council] can make a difference".

Two weeks after he moved in to the rental property in Cambridge the tenant had created a "fake estate agent" in order to list the property for sale on-line and had fitted the property out with rented show home furniture.

Propertymark has published its response to the public consultation on the new decent homes standard (DHS) for the private rented sector and calls for a focus on prevention via provision to landlords of advice/information and support rather than prosecution when it comes to enforcement of the standard.

In September we reported that the Government was to make it a legal obligation for landlords using "bills included" tenancies to pass on the cost of living crisis £400 energy bills rebate to their tenants. Currently, over half a million private rented sector tenants (equivalent to 13% of PRS tenants) are on such tenancies.

The Judge at Thames Magistrates Court said the private rented sector landlord's offending "undermines the entire system of planning control" when ordering him to pay a £251,582 confiscation order, Waltham Forest Council's legal costs of £29,725 and a fine of £12,000 (reduced from £16,000 in recognition of the landlord's pleading guilty).

The “Outsourcing” behemoth Serco has an interesting “calling all landlords” message on its webpage. The company states that it is looking for “landlords, investors and agents” with rental properties available (in the North West, Midlands and the East of England) in all category types - HMO, single family, care homes, residential and former student accommodation.

The LGA has inputted to current parliamentary debates on the Government's Rental Reform White Paper by submitting its views in a series of key messages.