A group representing private landlords has slammed the BBC for its ‘misleading’ Panorama programme showing appalling conditions in the PRS and said there are “over 100 Acts of Parliament” which protect renters.
Residential Landlords Association (RLA) chairman Alan Ward claimed the BBC ignored “the views of those bodies representing the vast majority of responsible landlords providing decent accommodation for their tenants” in its 20 April programme, called ‘The Great Housing Benefit Scandal’.
In a letter to Lord Hall, the director general of the BBC, Ward said: “The programme made a number of serious allegations, ending as it did with a suggestion that local authorities do not have sufficient powers to tackle the problem of poor standard rented accommodation and that tenants have few rights. The absence of a representative of a landlord body from the programme therefore gave a skewed and misleading impression of the sector.”
Ward said that “including a spokesperson would have provided an opportunity to explain that there are over 100 Acts of Parliament containing around 400 regulations affecting the private rented market. I enclose a copy of this information”.
He also asked for answers to the following:
· Why did the programme not explain that the kind of conditions outlined in the programme are already illegal under the housing, health and safety rating system which local authorities have a duty to uphold?
· Had the tenants whose properties the programme featured reported their conditions to their local authorities? If so, how did the councils respond? If not, why not?
· Why did the programme not mention the issue of enforcement? Regulations are useless without proper enforcement.
· Why did the programme not point out that the accommodation featured – caravan park, hostel and hotel – is not typical of the private rented sector?
· Why did a programme purporting to cover housing across the UK focus entirely on properties in London and the South East, parts of the country where pressures on housing and the lack of accommodation to rent are unrepresentative of the rest of the country?
Ward concluded that “it is disappointing that the BBC has once again decided to ignore the views of those bodies representing the vast majority of responsible landlords providing decent accommodation to their tenants”.