The Government’s new Housing Act has triggered a fresh wave of confusion among the UK’s private sector landlords.

And, this time, 15 year-old building regulations are adding to the chaos – according to the leading professional body, the Residential Landlords Association whose members own over 100,000 private rented properties throughout the UK.

The RLA has now called on the Government to give a “clear lead” and issue a definitive ‘Plain English’ summary of the 1991 regulations.

“We are getting reports, from all over the country, of landlords negotiating individual HMO properties (houses in multiple occupation) with local authorities that are all interpreting the Act differently,” says Residential Landlords Association director Mark Butterworth.

“Nobody seems to know how to apply the building regulations and, with many substantially upgraded properties that may have changed hands several times, there are no records or documentation as to what does or does not comply.

“Proof of compliance is often not available and local officials can’t always recognise or identify properties that do comply.

“So much is open to interpretation and there’s no clear lead or guide from central Government - so this is all growing into a major problem as landlords struggle to comply with new Housing Act licensing requirements. We need a clear standard to physically check whether a property complies or not.

“If the Government had not ignored our warnings and advice on this, during the Housing Bill’s consultation period, we may now have something a little more workable.

“But, as it is, we can expect even higher levels of confusion.”