Next month the States Assembly is due to debate new rented dwellings legislation that includes a law which would make it necessary for all landlords to be accredited. Under the proposals landlords would have to ensure that their properties met minimum standards and could be issued with notices if the property failed inspections. If the notice is ignored the landlord could face court.
Yesterday at an Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel hearing, Environment Minister Steve Luce said he expected the ‘standard rate’ that landlords would have to pay to be accredited to be about £100.
However, he said those that achieved the best scores on the newly launched voluntary Rent Safe scheme could be given ‘heavy discounts’.
Rent Safe rates landlords from zero to five stars based on their compliance with minimum standards. It is similar to the Eat Safe scheme for restaurants. Rent Safe was ‘soft-launched’ in the summer and seven landlords, with a total of 58 properties, have signed up. Landlords with fewer than three stars – which means they do not meet minimum standards – are not displayed on the website.
To achieve three stars a property should, amongst other things, be free from damp, have enough natural light, be adequately insulated and have a fire detection system.
Deputy Luce said at the meeting: ‘Rent Safe is voluntary but if there is a requirement to be registered [if the scheme is approved by the States] and if you score high on Rent Safe you will get a discount.’
Andy Scate, chief officer for Planning, said, if the scheme was approved, the idea was that it would be ‘self-funding’ and cover the running costs to assess landlords and properties of £750,000 to £800,000. There are currently about 10,000 properties for rent in Jersey.
Panel member Deputy Montfort Tadier raised concerns that because the Rent Safe star rating scheme was optional for landlords there was a risk that ‘only good landlords would sign up’.
Deputy Luce said: ‘People who have come forward have good properties.’
He added: ‘Similarly, those looking at landlords without any star ratings will be asking, “Why has this property not been inspected?”.’
Mr Scate told the panel that Rent Safe and the proposed landlord accreditation scheme were designed to ‘shake up behaviour’ of some landlords in the Island. He said there are properties in Jersey ‘tenants should not be living in and landlords should not be renting out’.
The Public Health and Safety (Rented Dwellings) legislation is due to be debated by the States Assembly on Tuesday 31 October.
To see the Rent Safe register visit gov.je and search for Rent Safe.
