Satirical illustration. Not a documentary photograph. Britain’s landlords are preparing to register their properties, provided the state first proves it can be trusted with an address and perhaps a small character reference.
Landlords have reacted to landlord registration by demanding that the government complete a 47-page application, produce three payslips and explain why it has changed jobs so often.
Graham Puddle, who owns three flats and has the emotional availability of a parking meter, called the request for an address “an unsafe level of transparency”. Before considering a tenant, he required a salary, bank statements, family history, two references, a guarantor and a guarantor for the guarantor. He also wanted proof the applicant’s parents owned something.
The register, announced for rollout from December, will eventually let renters check whether a landlord is signed up, with registration numbers on adverts, according to the official announcement. Councils will also get information intended to help identify rogue landlords.
Puddle called this “a dangerous precedent” and placed an advert for a windowless box room described as “cosy”, with a kitchen tap offering “character”. He said transparency was vital, provided it travelled in one direction.
He will send the government his name once it supplies three payslips and a reference from its previous country.
