Think twice before signing up to new register, landlords told

A landlord group is advising members to think carefully about a ‘special offer’ from a local authority attempting to tie them into a licensing deal.

The Isle of Man government wants landlords to voluntarily sign up to a register system which it says will be mandatory from next spring; those who sign up now will have no fee.

However the Isle of Man Landlords Association has told the BBC it fears the new regulations contained within the register will have "unintended consequences" because so few details have been released.

A spokesperson for the association says some landlords “are coming to the opinion that we have no idea what we are signing up for, and thinking - do I really want to be a landlord in these uncertain times?"

He continues: “Take a typical 100-year-old property in Douglas, how do those landlords know, for instance, what insulation standard they are going to have to comply with, and whether they can even achieve it? Surely that type of detail needs to be ironed out before you bring this in."

The island’s infrastructure department says details of the scheme - setting out new standards for property maintenance, personal requirements, and enforcement rules - will be released later this year.

The full BBC story is here.

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