19 September 2008
Councils are resisting plans to allow the Tenant Services Authority to step in and even fine landlords that provide an inadequate service.
Local authority representatives on an advisory panel, set up by ministers to look into the nascent regulator's powers, insist that the communities and local government secretary should decide whether to intervene, rather than the TSA.
As expected, the panel, chaired by Professor Ian Cole, recommended on September 11 that a single regulatory system for all social landlords should be in force by April 2010. The TSA will regulate housing associations from this December.
Martin Wheatley, programme director at the Local Government Association, said the panel had agreed on inspection and standard-setting. He denied the issue of intervention was a sticking point.
'I can't imagine circumstances where a secretary of state was asked to do something by an independent regulator and didn't do it,' he said.
Peter Marsh, chief executive designate of the TSA, said: 'There is room for debate in areas such as fines and enforcement action.'
PFsep2008
