Opposition MPs have failed to convince the government to pause the new PRS Database amid fears it will have damaging repercussions for the sector.

Concerns were raised during a committee meeting on the draft regulations about the lack of provision for bulk uploads, forcing landlords to upload properties one by one.

“Each property requires around 70 data points, so that is an awful lot of admin with huge time implications,” said Conservative Gareth Bacon. “Assuming that it takes 30 minutes per property and there are seven productive working hours in a day, that amounts to 214 working days for a 3,000-property portfolio and 714 days for a 10,000-property portfolio.”

He said the proposed database - which is due to start rolling out in December - was not fit for purpose. “I implore the Minister to pause the impending roll-out of the regulations, which are due for implementation in just a couple of weeks’ time, scrap the current proposals and produce new ones after proper consultation with industry.”

Fiasco

Liberal Democrat Gideon Amos labelled the system “nothing short of a fiasco”. He added: “Let us imagine that someone is an institutional landlord with 4,000 dwellings. If only one can be entered at a time, it will take weeks and months, by which time the database will be completely out of date for tenants looking at it.”

Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook (pictured) dismissed the suggestion, but said the government was looking at how it can integrate the management systems of larger landlords into the database in a way that doesn’t require them to manually input each of their properties. It will also allow organisations to add multiple employees to their accounts, enabling easier administration.

Pennycook explained that fees will be pro-rated during the initial roll-out, ensuring that landlords in regions required to register early are treated fairly, and explained that it would continue to review how selective licensing and the database interact as implementation progresses, with a view to reducing duplication.

Information

“It is not the case that each landlord needs to log on and upload the same information each year starting from scratch,” he explained. “They need to update the information only if the information they have already entered has changed.”

Pennycook added that agents will be able to support landlords by providing certain information once the landlord has started the registration process. “Where an agent agrees, the landlord will be able to delegate the provision of specific tenancy and health and safety information to them.”

Although six of the 17 committee members voted against it, the database will go ahead as planned. Landlords have now been given guidance to help them sign up.

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