In Focus (2022, Qtr 2): Property Management and Regulation

Introduction

The Quarter 2 survey forms one part of the quarterly In Focus series for 2022. It collected responses from 1,039 private landlords operating in England and Wales. Findings help to inform and develop NRLA policy on key issues affecting landlords in the private rented sector.

The NRLA are frequently asked by government to help provide them with evidence base to support policy development. As such, some questions were drafted by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).

The report includes topics which focus on:

• Confidence levels across England and Wales.
• Landlords’ experience with of using traditional high-street letting agents as well as online agent providers.
• Landlord awareness of regulatory issues
• Analysis of the frequency and nature of complaints landlords receive.

Landlord confidence

While confidence in England and Wales has fallen for the second consecutive quarter and remains negative, a score of -12.2 is still high relative to previous years.  

• There has been a slight increase in the proportion of landlords both planning to buy and having bought a property in the last 12 months.
  • Changes in regulation and increased maintenance costs were cited as the key driver behind landlords selling and planning to sell.
• A record number of landlords were found to have increased the rent in the last 12 months.
  • Increased landlord costs has been a key driver in both recent and planned rent increases.

Letting agents

There was around a 50-50 split between landlords surveyed who use a letting agent and those who do not. For those landlords who do use letting agents, there is broad satisfaction with their current agent.

Findings indicate that online agents are yet to become mainstream among landlords who choose to use a letting agent.

• Most landlords – over three-quarters – have never used an online agent.

Close to half of landlords of landlords reported they had recently switched agents. Cost and landlord satisfaction with the service provider were found to be two key drivers behind decisions to switch agents or to stop using them at all.

PRS policy (for DLUHC)

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities wished to monitor landlord awareness of key regulations.  Landlords surveyed demonstrated a high level of awareness regarding regulations relating to deposits, fees, and current minimum energy efficiency standards.

For example:

• ‘Electrical Installations must be inspected by a competent and qualified person, at least every 5 years’ – 98.1% were “fully aware”.
• ‘Gas safety checks must be carried out annually and tenants must be provided with a copy of the certificate within 28 days’ – 96.7% were “fully aware”.
• ‘A landlord must protect a tenant’s deposit in a government approved scheme and provide the tenant with information about this within 30 days’ – 98.5% were “fully aware”.

Only a small portion stated they had no awareness at all.

Tenant complaints

The research shows most (89%) landlords had not received a complaint from their tenant(s) about the standard of their property within the last year.  These complaints were:

1. Mostly maintainance-based.
2. Typically, fully dealt with by the landlord - with just a handful remaining outstanding.

Meanwhile: 

• Almost 95% of landlords reported they had received no complaints raised by a local authority.
• No landlord reported complaints being raised as a result of regulatory non-compliance.