WITH perfect timing Manchester City Council has formed a task force to look at the whole issue of managing agents and lettings agents.
The main grudge against lettings agents is the high level of fees charged.
Given the reaction to the issues at Timber Wharf and No1 Deansgate on Confidential and the disturbing stories dropping into my in-box this is something that is long overdue.
The task force – shorthand for Role of Managing Agents and Lettings agents in the Private Rented Sector (PRS) Task and Finish Group - is a cross party group of eight councillors that will report back to the Neighbourhood Scrutiny Committee after four open sessions.
Councillor Kevin Peel is one of them and while he wishes it had a sexier name he knows the group’s remit is a serious and important one.
If you want people to settle and live happily and neighbourly and help a city to grow and thrive they have to have a good choice of well built, well run, well maintained places to live in. Or they move on.
Flats from St John's Garden
And it comes at a pivotal time.
Manchester’s planning office is about to be overrun with applications for new residential schemes and the Government, through the HCA, is pushing the build to rent model as a way of providing new accommodation in numbers.
Coun Peel said: “City centre living is not new but this is probably the first time that some thought has gone in to how people actually live, the problems they have, the issues that concern them.
“We have a wide remit but we don’t want it just to be a listening exercise we want something concrete to come out of it. We will make recommendations on our findings to national Government and will examine the planning process to influence new residential development.
“My hope is that we can look at influencing the setup of the building so that resident directors are the standard who can set their own managing agents and not have one imposed that it is virtually impossible to get rid of.
“And we could explore the possibility of a Manchester code of practice we would encourage managing agents to sign up to.
“It’s an important inquiry and we want people living in Manchester to play an active part and tell us their experiences – bad and good.”
And it seems its first job may be to tally up the number of people actually living in the private rented sector.
There seems to be a ball park figure of 12,000 in the city centre proper but half of those are thought to be students.
Why don’t they count? And what about all the apartments at Beswick and Hulme, not technically city centre but affected by the same issues.
Coun Peel said: “We have asked officers for a report giving the current number of PRS tenants and what the council already knows of good and bad practices by managing agents and lettings agents in the city.”
The first meeting (date yet to be fixed) will also be hoping to have information from Shelter and the Citizens Advice Bureau about how the most vulnerable fare when it comes to living in the city centre.
They want to interview the managing agents to hear about the business from their side, ditto lettings agents.
The objective is to get a better understanding of the issues experienced by tenants and leaseholders, to find ways in which the Council can influence the practices of managing agents and lettings agents to improve services and explore what action can be taken at a local level.
There will also be a public call for evidence to get first hand testimonials and case studies.
We are not talking about the odd light bulb not being replaced immediately - that happens in my house too - but systematic shoddy maintenance, security issues, unexpected payment demands, lack of financial accountability.
The main grudge against lettings agents is the high level of fees charged. Some have now started posting their fees in their window and on their websites, something that really should be mandatory.
The group will also be looking at other cities for best practice and to learn lessons.
There will be four sessions in all, all open to the press and public.
When the date is fixed for the first you will read it here first.
They had better book a big room.
You can follow Jill Burdett on Twitter here.
Apartments down the river
