Further delays to Landlord Registration

With the focus of government firmly on the future of social housing in Northern Ireland it is perhaps not surprising that issues relating to the private rented sector are lower on the Department for Social Development’s (DSD) agenda.

This is particularly evident in regard to the long awaited project to introduce a registration scheme for landlords – a provision for which was first included in the Private Tenancies (Northern Ireland) Order 2006.

Building Sound Foundations strategy

In the much heralded Building Sound Foundations strategy, launched in 2009, the Department highlighted the importance of landlord registration:

“The introduction of mandatory landlord registration is seen as a first but essential step in establishing better regulation of the private rented sector. …We will also ensure that registration delivers against its objective to raise and enforce standards, improve tenancy management and prevent bad landlords from participating in the sector……Legislation to establish mandatory registration will be pursued at the first opportunity while parallel development work with stakeholder involvement is underway.” (DSD Building Sound Foundations, p7, 2009)

After much delay, regulations for the scheme were approved by the NI Assembly in September 2012 when it was intended that the scheme would be operative by June 2013.

Further Landlord Registration Scheme delays

However, the DSD has recently issued a statement to stakeholders explaining that the timetable for delivering the project has suffered further delay largely because of the need to ensure the system will facilitate the payment of the housing cost element of Universal Credit directly to landlords.

The DSD now proposes a two phased approach with

• an online landlord registration system expected to be in place by the end of February 2014 and
• a manual scheme available from March 2014.

Rather than being administered by local government as originally mooted, the registration operational arrangements have been awarded to NI Direct and BT. The DSD hopes to be in a position shortly to appoint the Registrar who will be responsible for establishing and managing the register.

The DSD is hoping to bring forward amending regulations to the Social Development Committee and the NI Assembly as soon as possible particularly in regard to facilitating direct payments to landlords. The DSD has also asked Housing Rights Service and other stakeholders for assistance in quality assuring the landlord registration materials and in testing the system.

In anticipation of the introduction of this register, Housing Rights Service is organising a training course which will equip stakeholders with the necessary knowledge and understanding of this scheme. Sign up to our newsletter to ensure you find out when this course will be available to book. Hopefully 8 years on from its first appearance in legislation, a registration scheme for private landlords may yet become operational in NI.