Buy-to-let investors will need a £50 licence

All buy-to-let investors face having to register with a new national landlords body and paying it £50 for a licence in order to continue renting out homes.



Anyone in England and Wales who rents residential property, including agents, developers and 'accidental landlords' will have to pay the registry before they let.



Registered landlords will have to meet certain standards, as the body will have the power to revoke their licence, for bodging repairs or for intimidating tenants.



These proposals, aimed at stamping out rogue landlords among the 1m operating, will be unveiled this month in a Green Paper, the contents of which The Times has seen.



They come after an independent review into the private rentals sector recommended new rules for letting agents, and a "light touch" licensing system for landlords.



Julie Rugg, a senior research fellow at the centre for housing policy at the University of York, also proposed the creation of a consumer complaints panel to aid in disputes.



If complaints the panel received about a landlords were upheld, typically related to the abuse of tenancy agreements, the landlord could be struck off the national registry.



Although details of how the body and the panel will work remain under wraps, landlords are expected to be able to appeal against rulings made by the new body.



However, should their defence get thrown out, it is understood investors could have to wait for years until they are legally permitted to rent out residential property again.



Putting the potential reach of the reforms into context, Ms Rugg found that as much as half of all homes are thought to be below the government's 'decent homes' standard.



Yet the buy-to-let sector has signalled it would back the moves to clean up the marketplace, where landlords are often unscrupulous within the existing rules.



Lending its support, the National Landlords Association said "we can see the thinking behind this" but cautioned that tenants would not want more burdensome regulations.