Website delay for licensed domestic landlords
23 Feb 06
Compulsory registration scheme delayed for another month
Technical problems with the supporting website have forced postponement of the compulsory registration scheme for private landlords for another month.
The scheme, contained in the Anti-Social Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004, should have been up and running by the end of March, but problems with the online payment system of the website, through which landlords would have registered, means it has been delayed until the end of April. The site was due to be live today, but now has a new date of 10 March.
The new legislation is intended to tackle the problem of rogue landlords and make property owners accountable for antisocial tenants. It provides that landlords who have not applied for registration by the commencement date will be committing an offence.
John Blackwood, director of the Scottish Association of Landlords, said he thought it was completely unreasonable of ministers to impose new legislation and give landlords such a short time to register.
Those who already have licences to run homes of multiple occupation will be automatically transferred to the new licence, while those who only rent out one or two rooms in their own homes will be exempt.