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Working with private sector landlords

Private sector landlords are a key client group for all PRS access schemes and it is essential that services meet their needs if they are to be effective in enabling people to access and sustain accommodation.
 
Chapter 6 of the Crisis Good Practice Guide provides useful information on how to recruit, support and retain landlords.
 
There are representative landlord bodies, such as The National Landlords Association and The Residential Landlords Association. These provide a range of services for their members including training, advice and guidance for PRS landlords.  Crisis has been jointly campaigning alongside the NLA and you can see more details of our joint booklet - New Directions for Private Renting - on the Crisis research pages.
 
The RLA website has a wide range of documents and guides for private sector landlords, going from pre-tenancy to setting up, managing and ending a tenancy, as well as landlords responsibilities and liabilities.
 
LACORS (the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services) has produced a simple guide to help potential landlords avoid some of the pitfalls of private renting.
 
The Government has also recently announced plans for a national register of all private landlords in England, along with regulation for letting agents and a complaints and redress procedure for tenants. These plans were announced in the Government's response to the Rugg Review of the PRS.
 
However, accreditation schemes do already exist and many local authorities already run their own shemes. ANUK is a network of private landlords which promotes accreditation of voluntary compliance with good standards in the condition and management of both PRS properties and tenant relationships. There is also an accreditation scheme for London Landlords.
 
The British Property Federation have published a residential code of conduct which is designed to formalise the relationship between landlords or agents and their residential tenants. 
 
Inside Housing Solutions delivers training on working with landlords.  They presented a workshop at the Crisis Conference in 2009, A happy relationship -  developing a good relationship with landlords in your area.
 
If you know of any further guidance or resources relating to supporting homeless people to move into the PRS, please us at private.renting@crisis.org.uk