Government rejects Labour MP’s call for landlords to be required to provide tenant references

Well I guess there would be a requirement to write an honest reference, so … some tenants might prefer we don’t HAVE to provide one

The last we need is more laws and regulation.

If it saves another landlord from letting to a bad tenant, I would welcome such a duty. It could be quickly and easily done with an e-document, and kept on a database which landlords can access.

For some reason, I doubt this was the purpose of this MPs question.

I have seen recently a post from a landlord at his wits end with a bad tenant that won’t leave. The landlord said: I have offered him cash and a good reference if he goes.
I thought, that’s not right, letting some other unsuspecting landlord be conned into having a troublesome tenant.

Regulated Capitalism — Socialism on Steroids

Another hair-brained idea by another vote seeking MP. Have they really not grasped that most tenants are tenants precisely because they don’t qualify for mortgages — a direct result of the government’s own over-zealous lending regulations?

Landlords stepped in to fill the gap, risking their hard-earned, already-taxed capital and their personal creditworthiness to secure mortgages that tenants themselves could not obtain. They put roofs over people’s heads, often for returns so small that no other business would tolerate them, nor any bank finance them if presented in a normal business plan.

Property investment has always been cyclical — feast or famine, with inevitable highs and lows. Yet when times turn down, government seeks to confiscate what was earned during the upturn. That isn’t free enterprise; it’s regulated capitalism — where costs and obligations remain private, but the benefits are stripped away by policy.

In short: socialism on steroids.

A change in people running this country can’t come soon enough.

References from a tenants current landlord are not worth anything to a prospective landlord. The chances are that any landlord would want a problem tenant out of their property, so a glowing reference may just be a means to achieve that objective.

Only a reference from a previous landlord would be worth obtaining. At least then they have nothing to lose or gain by offering an honest account.

I have been letting property for over 30 years and have more than a thousand tenancies under my belt. I have been asked for a reference on only three occasions in that time. In all cases, the individual failed to obtain a new tenancy, as the reference I gave was completely honest.

Why Landlords Deserve Recognition as Genuine Businesses

If landlords applied the same underwriting standards to letting their properties as lenders apply when granting mortgages, many homes would temporarily stand empty. Government would then be forced to confront the reality of housing those displaced. The result would be swift — the message would hit home, and the rental market would change forever.

Yet perversely, government treats lenders with more respect than landlords, even though lenders only take the safest slice of capital risk. Their loan-to-value ratios are designed to protect them even in a downturn. Landlords, by contrast, shoulder the full equity risk — losing some or all of their capital when values fall.

Why isn’t this distinction clearly voiced by the property membership organisations that collect fees to “represent” landlords? Instead, they have allowed the profession to be demonised — portrayed as selfish and grasping — and failed to challenge policies such as Section 24, which stripped landlords of basic business tax recognition.

It’s time for those who claim to represent the sector to speak with honesty and conviction — and remind government that private landlords are not the problem, but the foundation that keeps millions housed.

When are we going to get a national tenants suitability rating Database..
Banks and other businesses use Expirien but landlords who stand to lose control of assets have to gamble on getting a suitable tenant.

My agent always provides a tenant reference. It says when the tenant moved in, when they moved out, what the monthly rent was, what the amount the tenant actually paid. It also notes the results of the tenancy termination inspection and what proportion of the bond was returned.The Agent also notes any balance left on utilities and council tax accounts. Unfortunately if the tenant has left without giving notice, without leaving a forwarding address, and with arrears on everything, then they rarely cone into the office to collect their reference.