It'll Take 100 Years To Hit London Rental Standard Target Says Labour

James Drury
By James Drury Last edited 106 months ago
It'll Take 100 Years To Hit London Rental Standard Target Says Labour

Photo by Oatsy40 in the Londonist Flickr pool

A year since the launch of a scheme which is meant to improve standards for private renters, it is claimed that at current sign-up rates, it'd take 100 years to reach the Mayor's target.

Just over 14,100 landlords have voluntarily agreed to the London Rental Standard (LRS), a code of practice including things such as a written rental agreement, protected deposit, reasonable notice of access, minimum times for emergency and urgent repairs and property conditions that comply with legal requirements. The Mayor wanted 100,000 of London's 300,000 landlords to have agreed to the LRS by May next year.

Shortly after the LRS launched, 13,512 landlords had signed up. Since then only 627 have put their names to it, which seems like quite the slow-down.

Labour’s London Assembly housing spokesperson, Tom Copley, said: "At the current rate, it will take over 100 years before the Mayor fulfils his promise to accredit 100,000 landlords — that’s more than embarrassing, it’s a scandal.

"We need real change in the private rented sector. Londoners need the peace of mind and security of longer tenancy agreements, caps on rent increases and an end to no fault evictions. Instead Boris Johnson’s soft touch and self-regulatory approach is leaving private renters with little protection from bad landlords."

The Mayor's office pointed to figures showing 331 letting agents managing around 121,000 properties had signed up.

Richard Blakeway, deputy mayor for housing, said: "Most landlords own just one property, whereas signing up a single branch of a letting agency reaches an estimated 200 homes.

"This is a huge success in one year and we look forward to working with thousands more landlords and agents to help get a better deal for renters as this scheme grows."

As we've previously pointed out, the fact the LRS is voluntary means it's only as good as your landlord — those who exploit tenants will never sign up to it.

Last Updated 28 May 2015