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Portsmouth Council Sells Landlords Addresses

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Portsmouth Council Sells Landlords Addresses

Portsmouth City Council have interpreted the Housing Act such that they are selling a copy of the HMO licensing database, including names and addresses of landlords to anyone who asks for it at a price of £200.

For info, the section reads: "(5) If requested by a person to do so and subject to payment of such reasonable fee (if any) as the authority may determine, a local housing authority must supply the person with a copy (certified to be true) of the register or of an extract from it." At Novembers Governance meeting we highlighted the word 'extract' and requested that this excludes landlord details.

Apparently, 2-3 agents have already bought the information, one of whom is a company called Red Vista who sent everyone on the list a letter last month offering 'to fully manage HMO's with absolutely no fees to landlords'.

We called Red Vista and the deal is that they contract with you for a specific price and period and then sublet the rooms themselves and manage the property for you and at the end of the lease, they give the keys back and you find the house 'in better condition than when you gave it to them' (nice sales pitch, I wonder how you put that in a contract). They make their money by charging more to their tenants than they are paying you for the property.

There is probably nothing illegal with this and without seeing the houses and discussing details, wecould not get any guide prices, but do be aware that sub-letting of this form is often forbidden by mortgage companies and insurers. Also, we could not get a clear answer but our belief is that Red Vista have no staff in the city and any management will be from the guy who sent the letter who is based in Bognor Regis. So it is debateable whether they would be able to get an HMO licence themselves for a property they managed.

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About the author

Martin Silman

Martin began his landlord journey 18 years ago, while working in an international role for a global telecommunications company. Since retiring he has extended his portfolio, which he manages with his wife, but has always focussed on the ‘small student HMO’ sector preferring to offer homes in the community for small groups to the more common ‘pack them in and take the money’ mentality. He has chaired the PDPLA for the past 9 years and has overseen the Associations transition from small local self-help group to a much larger and more professional institution which is recognised and listened to nationally. Alongside his PDPLA role, he also has leadership roles in a number of other local organisations – bringing his unique perspective, driving for change and increased use of technology while respecting the history that brought us here.

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