First, an apology for yesterday’s post/email. I paused to eat half way through writing, and on re-starting completely confused my Cs and Ls as to claimant/appellant and defendant/respondent. As a result it appeared that both parties had estranged parents in Egypt, and that the wrong party had appealed. I hope it made a degree of sense regardless. The post has been corrected and now makes actual sense.
Next, just as a comment, I was prompted by a reply on Bluesky to address the inevitable demand from (some) private landlords when faced with the de facto national registration of landlords scheme contained in the Renters’ Rights Bill. ‘Why’, they say, ‘why oh why isn’t there a public register of problem tenants?’ (This was not what the person who replied to me on Bluesky said exactly, but it has been a staple of landlord forums with the introduction of every licensing scheme.)
So, this was my answer on Bluesky (edited to avoid gaps between posts, but otherwise largely as was):
These are two wholly different things. The landlord database will effectively be a register of compliance with statutory duties on landlords (GSC, EICR, Licensing. S.48 address, etc.) It will not be a register of private law duties. Eg whether the landlord has had disrepair claims or civil harassment claims against them. Those are private law civil and contractual obligations between the parties.
The landlord database might result in a sudden increase in the amount of tax paid by landlords, and, I suspect, a sudden jump in conversion of residential mortgages to BTL mortgages (at a higher rate), but that is not its purpose. It would simply be a side effect of visibility.
But your proposed register of ‘badly behaved tenants’ could only involve the private, civil law obligations of one party to another. (rent arrears, property damage, ASB/nuisance). As such it already exists – the register of County Court Judgments. Because that is where a breach of civil and contractual obligations is adjudicated, the county court. Anything else would just be a recipe for defamation, character assassination & the whingeing of landlords – a legal minefield.
Because where else would the supposed information come from except landlords, who i) are not necessarily sane or ii) cognisant of their obligations (s.21 for complaining too much about a broken shower, or for getting pregnant when ‘she’d said she wouldn’t’, anyone? Seen both – expressly stated).
The tenants could of course obtain the details of who placed the entry, and sue for defamation (the serious impact on them would be obvious). This, I’m sure you would agree, is not, on the whole, a good idea… Basically, get a good referencing agency, then sue them if they cock up.
I’d stand by this. So, views? Counter arguments? Though I warn you now that anything along the lines of ‘it isn’t fair’ won’t be entertained and will probably be deleted.