It will save money, reduce council headcount, and stop fees driving perfectly good people from the low margin private rented sector.
Councils are being asked to poke their noses into too many peoples private lives.
If I live in a townhouse with my girlfriend and her baby twins, and we have a lodger, then the house must be registered and inspected by a council officer, and I must install 15 fire alarms, control panel, emergency access lighting and signs, and have it inspected every month by a Fire alarms person.
Crazy. Legislation affecting 'renting' has become unpleasant – it has a begrudging feel.
If I swapped one of the twins for an au pair, then the house must still be registered and inspected by a council officer, and I must install 15 fire alarms, control panel, emergency access lighting and signs, and have it inspected every month by a Fire alarms person…
Regulation in the private property rental sector has gone berserk. Its badly targeted, new anti-slum 'HMO' council officers are popping up with hundreds of different types of implementation, charging hundreds of quid for admin, sending threatening letters and waving around £20,000 fines.