What’s the goal of this research?
We want to understand renters’ experiences of trying to solve housing problems when their landlord or letting agent will not help, focusing particularly on renters who have taken their complaint to their local council or one of the other schemes that exist for handling complaints against landlords/letting agents.
Using the findings of this research, we aim to suggest ways to improve the current complaints systems, so that they are easier for renters to use.
Our findings will help shape new complaints systems being introduced under the Renters Rights Bill, ensuring they work well for renters.
Why is this research important?
Previous research from the TDS Charitable Foundation has shown that many renters would not know where to take their complaint next if a housing issue remained unresolved by a landlord or letting agent. This means that renters may feel powerless, when, in reality, landlords have a legal obligation to make sure that rented homes are kept in a good state of repair and are free of hazards.
One problem with the current system is that there are many different places that private renters can go for help with housing problems, which can be confusing. This is illustrated below:
Private renters may also worry about how their landlord may react if they take their complaint further, with the potential threat of eviction and rent increases. This may stop some renters from speaking up.
This research project will reveal more about the barriers renters experience when trying to solve their housing problems. It will explore what kind of information and support renters would find helpful in these situations, and this learning will be taken to government to try to ensure that future systems are easier for renters to navigate.
Influencing government policy
The government plans to make changes to the private rented sector with their Renters’ Rights Bill, which is currently going through parliament. This should help to break down some of the barriers renters face when trying to solve housing problems, for example by:
Ending Section 21 “no fault” evictions – This will stop landlords from evicting renters. without a reason, which will provide more security for renters and hopefully make them more willing to make complaints about their landlords and letting agents.
Limiting rent increases – Rent will only be able to be increased once a year. There is a Rent Tribunal that people can go to challenge rent increases, which will be improved so tenants feel more confident using it.
Introducing a New Landlord Ombudsman – Currently, if you rent directly from a landlord (not through a letting agent), your options for resolving issues are limited. The new Ombudsman will give you a clear place to go with issues. It will also stop many cases from needing to go to court, which can be time consuming and expensive.
Expanding Rent Repayment Orders (RROs) – Rent Repayment Orders allow renters to reclaim rent when landlords have committed particular offences. These will be expanded to cover more situations, like poor housing conditions and violations of new regulations.
We want to make sure these changes are successful, so that renters have a better experience in the future. This research project will show the government the issues that renters currently face, and what further information and support is needed, so that they can take this into account when they are developing the bill.
What the research will cover
We will be conducting interviews with tenants who have taken their complaint further when their landlord or letting agent did not solve a housing problem, including to:
Their local council,
The county court
The Property Ombudsman
The Property Redress Scheme.
The Tenancy Redress Service.
We want to find out about renters’ experiences of taking their complaint to these places. We will be asking:
How did you find out where to take your complaint?
How easy or difficult was get in contact with these authorities/schemes?
How easy or difficult was it to understand the process of making a complaint to these authorities/schemes?
Were you satisfied with how your complaint was dealt with?
Was your housing issue solved by going through this process?
What could have improved the whole experience?
If you are interested in taking part in this research, please click here.
About the author
Dr Jennifer Harris, Head of Policy and Research at TDS
Dr Jennifer Harris is Head of Policy, Research and Strategy at The Dispute Service where she is establishing a new department to support an impartial and evidence-based approach towards improving standards in the private rented sector. Jennifer holds a PhD from the University of Bristol Law school. Prior to joining The Dispute Service she led the Raising Standards in the UK Private Rented Sector research programme within the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE) and has also worked as the Research Manager at the national organisation Homeless Link.
About TDS
The Tenancy Deposit Scheme is the largest tenancy deposit provider (by value) in England and Wales. Our government backed Insured and Custodial offerings protect over 1.8m deposits.
The Tenancy Deposit Scheme is part of The Dispute Service (TDS), the leading tenancy deposit protection and resolution service provider in the UK making life easier for tens of thousands of agents, landlords, developers, and millions of tenants and homebuyers. TDS is a not-for-profit company with offices in Hemel Hempstead, Glasgow, and Belfast.
For more information visit www.tdsgroup.uk
