News from Manor Lettings
8 May 2010: The Studentification of University towns
It has come to our attention that local councils may be sharing information on the rating of HMO landlords.
According to studenthousing.co.uk local councils are rating HMO landlords and sharing the information on a secret database. The database classes a landlord as good, bad or average and is one of the factors considered when making a decision whether a landlord or a manager is a fit and proper person for running an HMO.
The database is managed by a London council but councils from all over England are accessing the information and adding their own landlord intelligence. The details are revealed in a Communities and Local Government Department document called Evaluation of the Impact of HMO Licensing and Selective Licensing that is free to download from the CLG web site. The identity of the council running the database is not disclosed. The information in the document was collected by researchers to support changes in April to HMO licensing and planning rules.
Few details about information on the database are known, but the concerns are data protection rules about sharing personal information may not be maintained and how councils rate landlords may be based on inaccurate information that no one can check.
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