Plans to tackle bad debt by forcing landlords to supply tenant details to water companies could be stymied by a government ban on micro-business red tape.
In a long-awaited consultation, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is inviting views on a voluntary approach to the issue, as well as the industry’s preferred option of regulation.
It proposed that landlords be encouraged to submit the information and that organisations should set up data-sharing agreements with water companies.
Rob Wesley, policy adviser at industry body Water UK, said this was “a rather optimistic approach of just asking landlords nicely, which won’t work”.
The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 enables government to make landlords liable for water and sewerage charges if they fail to pass on tenant details in time. However, doing so would be at odds with a three-year coalition moratorium on new regulations for micro-businesses, announced in April 2011.
Many landlords are individuals or couples, putting them in the micro-business category.
Phill Mills, an independent consultant formerly of Water UK, said the landlords’ associations he had been dealing with had been coming round to the idea. He said: “I really don’t think it’s a burden.”
Water UK has committed to develop an “easy to use” web portal on behalf of all water companies for landlords to submit
tenant data.
Wesley said Water UK envisaged that the service would be up and running later this year, whether the government compelled landlords to supply the information or not.
by Megan Darby
This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 27 January 2012.
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