Mark Isherwood
Shadow Housing Minister Mark Isherwood has spoken at today’s Capita ‘Housing Reform Wales’ Conference of the need to stimulate housing supply in Wales and of the potential risks to this posed by the Welsh Government’s proposed housing legislation.
Mr Isherwood’s speech at the Cardiff conference focussed on ‘Understanding the Wider Legislative Landscape and the Impact on Housing’.
He told the conference that that by 2009/10 the Welsh Government had by far the lowest proportional level of housing expenditure of any of the four UK countries and that although NHBC figures for new homes registered in Wales increased in the quarter to November 2013 to 573, this contrasts with the lowest figure of the 9 English regions – 1,446 in North East England – and with 2,425 in Scotland.
He also stated that although private rented sector leaders remained keen to explore ways in which they can help deliver more quality housing at affordable rents that meet social need, the Welsh Government was increasing regulation rather than starting the engagement needed and dealing with bad and criminal landlords through enforcement of existing powers.
He said: “The Welsh Government’s Housing (Wales) Bill proposes a Landlord Registration Scheme, with the same rules applying irrespective of location and Local Authorities sharing information.
“Once registered, a landlord deciding to self-manage will need to be licensed – with a fit and proper persons test and an approved training course – but landlords who choose not to manage the properties themselves will not need to be licensed as the obligation will be with the letting or management agent – who must be members of an approved professional body and all members of staff engaged in managing properties must have successfully completed an approved training course.
“Referring to Scotland, which introduced mandatory landlord registration in 2006, the Country Land and Business Association – CLA Cymru – has highlighted concern that criminal landlords fell through the net there because precious resource was instead being used to regulate good landlords.
‘Noting that there has been a reversion to Selective Licensing In Scotland because Mandatory Landlord Registration was too burdensome and expensive, CLA Cymru therefore asks ‘Why would Wales be any different?’ and the Director for Wales of the Residential Landlords Association has stated ‘we have over 100 pieces of statutory legislation with over 400 regulations that govern property; we don’t need any more, just implement what works and if possible simplify it!’
Mr Isherwood also spoke of the impact of new regulations on homebuilders, citing the Domestic Fire Safety (Definition of Residence) (Wales) Order 2013 as one example.
He said: “This will require the installation of automatic sprinklers into all new homes built or converted in Wales from 2016, despite the findings of the independent Building Research Establishment report commissioned by the Welsh Government, ‘Cost Benefit Analysis of Residential Sprinklers for Wales’, that fire sprinklers are not cost effective in new single-occupancy houses, shared houses, hostels and sheltered houses and that far more consideration needs to be given to that point.”
