According to Housing Minister Grant Shapps, new rules could cut as many as 8,500 applications from the planning system, freeing councils to focus on local priorities rather than micro-managing rented housing,
The Minister has laid down new regulations that will lead to landlords no longer having to submit a planning application to their council when wishing to rent a property to multiple unrelated tenants, unless councils know there is a high concentration of them already in the area.
Too many Houses of Multiple Occupation with short term tenants can turn a community into a seasonal 'ghost town', harming the local economy and increasing crime and anti social behaviour.
Grant Shapps argues that the current system may drive good landlords away from the rental sector, due to the current 'one size fits all' planning approach. The submission of a planning application to the council increases costs, slows the process down and limits the availability of homes and causes a drain on council resources.
The Minister said:
"Councils understand their local area best and they don't need burdensome rules that assume housing issues in every town, village and hamlet are exactly the same.
"I am also committed to safeguard the supply of rented housing - shared homes are vital for people who want to live and work in towns and cities, and are important to the economy.
"That's why I'm giving councils greater flexibility to manage shared homes in their local area.
"Where there are local issues with shared homes, councils will have all the tools they need to deal with the problem - but they will avoid getting bogged down in pointless applications, and landlords won't be put off renting shared homes where they are needed."
Following just over a year of consultation, development and testing, RICS will launch its Valuer Registration Scheme on 20 October 2010.
The scheme will assure the quality of valuations, raise the credibility of valuers and provide clients a clearly identifiable designation for the best regulated and qualified professionals in the field.
The RICS' scheme, conceived by the Valuation Professional Group, sets out an approach to reinforce professional standards and raise consumer confidence in the delivery of valuation advice to the highest professional standard - a key component underpinning most economic activity.
More than 800 separate written responses were received in a ten week consultation period last year and an approach was chosen which members deemed appropriate to achieve proportionate and better regulation in the market place.
The scheme will become mandatory in the UK from 30 April 2011. This will apply to all members undertaking valuations carried out under RICS Valuation Standards (the Red Book) which provide a regulated framework and practice guidance and standards, including compliance with International Valuation Standards.
