Labour MP, Jas Athwal, let out mouldy ant infested flats, which his tenants were rather circumspect in revealing too much about when talking to reporters, or to reveal their names when that came to light, for fear of eviction. "Terribly sorry" said he, allegedly he'd no idea 
As a landlord it's your business to know what state your property is in. As a previous landlord with a managing/letting agent, you pay them to inspect and to advise on the state of the property and what's required as to safety certificates and maintenance .Or you make it your business to do that yourself and make damn sure you do it properly when you are responsible for other people's safety and well being. How strange all of that seemed to pass him by. Lets hope he can meet his own party's requirements.
I know that landlords can be pieces of work. When our son was in his second year at university in a shared house, the landlord took it upon himself, without asking or consulting in any way, to move builders and bulldozers in to extend the back so he could maximise the living space for more students to live there. To my son and his fellow housemates amazement, they woke up early one morning to builders traipsing through the house telling them this work would be going on for quite a while. It took a solicitor's letter with the threat of an injunction for it to stop. So two examples of really bad landlords who unfortunately besmirch the rest.
Talking of students, I'm just wondering how the minimum three year lease would work, most wouldn't want that. First year on campus, maybe two years in rented accommodation, but not always, often they switch their rented places after a year.
In principal I do agree, that tenants need more protection especially from those sorts of landlords.
As a landlord, I accepted, as I'm sure many other landlords do, it is incumbent on them to keep the property in a reasonable state of repair. If there was an issue with our flat we made sure that was fixed asap. However, what we didn't know with our last two tenants, before we sold, our two bedroomed flat, the two tenants had been subletting it to several other people. A flat ideally suitable to accommodate 2 people, had six people living there and that was evident in the wear and tear particularly in the shower/bathroom. We were tipped off about it from a neighbour below, so they probably weren't surprised when their annual lease expired we didn't renew it. Eventually when they moved out, we found mail addressed to people other than them. Our pretty useless letting agents with a shrug, told us allegedly that's not unusual. So it seem the tenant can break the terms of the lease and pretty much get away with it, even though in three years we only raised the rent once. All in all, not wanting that sort of experience again, and knowing this new legislation was coming down the line on balance we decided to sell. Anyway, we're out of it now, most of the articles I've been reading are suggesting it's going to be more problematic for the single property landlord and I've no regrets about selling. That's not to say that I don't want tenants to have a better and more secure home, but really the answer is not to rely on private lettings, but to build more houses.
