22nd April 2015
Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE
Director General
BBC
Broadcasting House
Portland Place
London
W1A 1AA
Dear Lord Hall
Panorama: The Great Housing Benefit Scandal – 20th April 2015
I am writing to express the Residential Landlord Association’s deep concerns regarding the
above programme.
The programme made a number of serious allegations, ending as it did with a suggestion
that local authorities do not have sufficient powers to tackle the problem of poor standard
rented accommodation and that tenants have few rights.
The absence of a representative of a landlord body from the programme therefore gave a
skewed and misleading impression of the sector.
Including a spokesperson would have provided an opportunity to explain that there are over
100 Acts of Parliament containing around 400 regulations affecting the private rented market.
I enclose a copy of this information.
Furthermore, I should be grateful for a reply on the following points:

Why did the programme not explain that the kind of conditions outlined in the programme
are already illegal under the Housing, Health and Safety Rating System which local
authorities have a duty to uphold?

Had the tenants whose properties the programme featured reported their conditions to
their local authorities? If so, how did the councils respond? If not, why not?

Why did the programme not mention the issue of enforcement? Regulations are useless
without proper enforcement. For example:
o
54% of councils fear they will not be able to fund their statutory obligations, which
include Environmental Health (LGIU and Management Journal survey).
Cont…
-2o
Figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies show also that during the last Parliament,
the budgets of local authority enforcement departments were cut by over 37% per
head of population in England.
o
In 2013, a Communities and Local Government Select Committee report on the
Private Rented Sector outlined concerns “about reports of reductions in staff who
have responsibility for enforcement and tenancy relations and who have an important
role in making approaches to raising standards successful.”

Why did the programme not point out that the accommodation featured – Caravan Park,
Hostel and Hotel - is not typical of the private rented sector?

Why did a programme purporting to cover housing across the UK focus entirely on
properties in London and the South East, parts of the country where pressures on
housing and the lack of accommodation to rent are unrepresentative of the rest of the
country?
Last month, the RLA raised similar concerns with the programme’s Editor about the failure to
include a representative of a landlord association to respond to the allegations contained
within a programme on the housing crisis. This included suggestions that the private rented
sector was somehow unregulated. In his response he noted:
“I appreciate the reminder that the RLA is out there and keen to make its voice heard,
and I will certainly bear them in mind when we return to the topic of housing in future.”
It is disappointing that the BBC has once again decided to ignore the views of those bodies
representing the vast majority of responsible landlords providing decent accommodation to
their tenants.
In light of the nature of the programme, I would welcome an early broadcast opportunity on
the BBC to respond to the misrepresentations of the sector made within it.
Given the concerns the RLA’s members will have about the programme, I am publishing a
copy of this letter on the RLA’s website and am sending a copy also to Rona Fairhead as
Chair of the BBC Trust.
I look forward to receiving your reply.
Yours sincerely,
Alan Ward
Chairman
Cc
Rona Fairhead CBE, Chair of the BBC Trust