Generation Rent says a ‘tenants’ army’ should enforce landlord database rules

The government should use a tenants’ army to check whether landlords are registered on the landlord database – and reward them with ‘rent refunds’ for reporting errant landlords.

That’s the call from Generation Rent, which says under the Renters’ Rights Bill, renters should be the ones checking the data.

That’s because ‘criminal landlords will dodge’ registering for it and councils won’t have the resources to enforce the rules.

The database will cover all private landlords and their properties to give tenants information about their potential home.

However, unlike landlord licensing offences, under existing proposals only councils will be able to act against landlords who fail to register on the database.

RRO for not registering

The organisation’s deputy director, Dan Wilson Craw, said: “Relying on cash-strapped councils to enforce the new database will weaken tenants’ incentive to check if their own landlord has an active profile, leading to higher levels of non-compliance by landlords.

“We are calling on the government to amend the Renters’ Rights Bill to make landlords liable for a Rent Repayment Order as soon as they fail to register on the database.

“If landlords don’t have an incentive to join the database, it risks being useless for tenants.”

He added: “The threat of having to pay back many months’ of rent should spur landlords into registering on the new database, but as things stand, only cash-strapped councils will have responsibility for making checks.

“Tenants are better placed than councils to spot landlord wrongdoing and could act as an army enforcing the new rules.”

He says renters will ‘need a strong incentive’ to check a landlord is on the database and then act if they’re not.

Tenants won’t check without an incentive

Mr Wilson Craw continued: “If the prospect of a refund is all in the hands of the council, many tenants will be put off from checking in the first place.

“Encouraging tenants to check their landlord’s compliance on the database would also present an opportunity for the government to raise awareness of wider renters’ rights by presenting essential information on the database website.

“Word of mouth about the potential rewards of checking the database would be particularly helpful in reaching renters who are currently unlikely to be aware of the Bill and who rent from landlords who rely on their tenants’ ignorance of their rights.”

London’s postcode lottery

The organisation’s call comes after it carried out research to discover a postcode lottery for London renters facing criminal landlords.

It says that five councils issued 87% of fines against law-breaking landlords and agents.

In many London areas, tenants reclaiming rent through Rent Repayment Orders (RROs) are as likely to penalise offending landlords as council fines or prosecutions.

The group analysed data from the Greater London Authority’s Rogue Landlord Database, showing councils levied £2.3 million in fines in 2024 and £3.6 million in 2023.

However, a single Kensington and Chelsea property skewed the latter with £1.4 million.