25th February 2003

ARLA, the Association of Residential Letting Agents, has issued a warning to the friends and relatives of potentially vulnerable tenants in the Private Rented Sector. The Association warns that to provide comfort and allay fears over the attitudes of a small number of landlords or the condition and maintenance of properties, the elderly and the inexperienced should always rent through a regulated letting agent. These regulated letting agents are members of ARLA and the other professional bodies.

The ARLA warning follows the recent report from the charity, Help the Aged. It also follows on from a report last year by the National Union of Students and it is issued now to coincide with the time when many students are starting to look for accommodation for the September term.

Said Adrian Turner, Chief Executive of ARLA, “Understandably, both these reports highlight extremes to draw attention to a possible problem. However, it is incontrovertible that it is vital to have peace of mind when elderly, inexperienced or vulnerable friends and relatives are renting.”

In their report, Help the Aged said that many older people suffer abuse and harassment from their landlords and that the solution is a return to rent controls. In 2000, the last year for which figures are available, there were a total of 31 convictions for unlawful eviction and harassment, although well over two million properties are rented out.

ARLA believes these conviction rates will reduce even further as standards in the lettings industry continue to improve. The Association believes that if rent controls were re-imposed, the amount of rental accommodation would reduce substantially and bad landlords would merely disappear underground.

Said Adrian Turner, “Survey after survey of ARLA members shows that they all believe the private investor who is buying to let has increased the supply of good quality rented property. Furthermore, by the very nature of the investment made, Buy to Let landlords want to maintain both their properties and a good long-term relationship with their tenant. You could say that today’s investment landlord is on the side of the elderly,” Mr Turner added.

At the other end of the age scale, ARLA believes that university authorities in particular should be careful to only recommend ARLA regulated agents to students.

The Association points out that there is still a number of poor, unregulated agents who will not pursue a duty of care to their tenants. Many have no lettings qualifications to back them up when problems arise, are not properly covered by professional indemnity insurance and nor are they fully bonded to satisfactory amounts before they take a young person’s deposit.

“We would like to see more liaison between universities and large employers of young people and regulated agents in their areas,” added Adrian Turner. “All the right standards are in place and rigorously adhered to by all ARLA letting agents. There is no excuse for the vulnerable and the inexperienced to be without protection because they have not been pointed in the right direction by friends, families, charitable concerns, university authorities and employers.”

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