Landlord registrations/applications, licenses issued/rejected and prosecutions: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/01350
Date received: 8 May 2018
Date responded: 31 May 2018

Information requested

1. In Scotland how many landlords were successfully registered in the following periods on the Landlord Registration central online system in 2017 and 2018, you also asked us to confirm if these are new registrations or existing registrations carried over from a previous year.

2. How many applications were rejected in 2017 and 2018?

3. In Scotland, how many HMO licences were registered in 2017 and 2018?

4. In how many applications was an agent listed as managing lease or occupancy arrangements in 2017 and 2018?

5. How many people have been prosecuted for not being a registered landlord in 2017 and 2018?

Response

We are able to provide most of the information requested, however, in some cases, the Scottish Government does not hold the information. The information provided is in the same order as questions stated above. All figures for 2018 are from 1 January to 28 May 2018.

1. There were 14072 new landlords registered in 2017 and a further 7976 in 2018 on the online landlord registration system. Additionally, there were 26,519 renewals for landlords (not registrations) in 2017 and a further 19948 in 2018. A "renewed" registration means that an existing registration has been carried over from previous years and continued at the end of the 3-year registration period, a registration is extant for 3 years from the date of approval.

2. Details on the number of rejected applications for registration in 2017 and 2018 cannot be provided as the Scottish Government does not currently hold this information.

3. The Licencing of Houses in Multiple Occupation is the responsibility of Local Authorities in Scotland. However, the Scottish Government collates statistics on HMO licenses, which are collected from local authorities each year through the Housing Statistics Annual Return. These returns are, applications received, applications refused, applications granted, licences revoked or suspended and licences in force. Figures for 2017 across Scotland are 1403 new licences and 7716 renewal licences. Figures for 2018 are not currently available. Comprehensive data on HMO licences is available at the following link:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/HousesMultipleOccupation

4. There were 14072 applications in 2017, 9530 applications have an "agent", and of the 7976 applications in 2018, 3849 applications have an "agent" associated with them. Note that the meaning of "agent" includes non-commercial agents within the meaning of landlord registration. However, there are 3642 agents (that is an organisation and not an individual) registered in the landlord registration system.

5. Whilst our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance, the Scottish Government does not hold the information centrally on the number of prosecutions for failure to register as a landlord in 2017 and 2018. Although legislation regarding landlord registration is set by the Scottish Government, it is the responsibility of the appropriate local authority to carry out enforcement action, including taking forward prosecution of unregistered landlords.

Should you require further assistance with this, individual local authorities may provide this information from their records. Contact details for each local authority are available on the landlord registration website,

https://www.landlordregistrationscotland.gov.uk/local-authority-contact

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses