The first year has been deliberately light touch, focusing on awareness raising and enabling landlords and agents to take the necessary steps to comply with the legislation. Whilst there is more to do, the achievement in the first 12 months is significant. By 9.00 p.m. yesterday, over 55,000 private landlords had registered and another 12,700 had started the registration process. Compare this to the previous voluntary accreditation scheme—after several years, only around 3,000 private landlords were accredited.

Not all landlords agree with the legislation or see the need for it. However, 96 per cent of those attending the training sessions have said it would make them better landlords, which is precisely what we are trying to achieve. There are benefits for landlords and tenants alike. Tomorrow, the final elements of the legislation come into force, which include the enforcement powers. They will reduce the scope for poor landlords to neglect their responsibilities, and for rogue landlords to abuse their position without fear of consequences. Ideally, we wouldn’t need enforcement. However, we know some private landlords will deliberately flout the law. This group will be targeted and if they fail to comply, they will face the consequences, including fines, fixed penalties, restrictions on evicting tenants, and rent stopping and repayment orders. Ultimately, they could be prevented from directly managing property.

Recent months have seen a huge rush to register, Deputy Llywydd, currently averaging around 1,100 landlords a day. As a result, Rent Smart Wales have taken longer than usual to respond to some of those calls and e-mails. I appreciate this has caused concern for some landlords who haven’t been able to complete the registration and licensing process. Rent Smart Wales have said that those who have started the process to comply will not face enforcement action if they’ve done all they reasonably can to comply. But this must not be seen as an excuse to ignore the law. My message to private landlords is clear: you must take action to comply with the requirements of the law. Enforcement action will be used appropriately and proportionally, but a failure to act puts you at risk of action against you.

Some have suggested the date for enforcement should be delayed. This wouldn’t solve anything. Some landlords would simply delay action until the next deadline, and the sooner we have enforcement in place, the sooner we can find and tackle the rogue landlords we seek. It’s also been suggested that the enforcement regime will fail because Rent Smart Wales only has nine enforcement officers. Everyone should realise that Rent Smart Wales also has the support of officers in all our local authorities, who will be proactive locally in encouraging compliance with the requirements. The approach is based on the premise that, for private landlords, ‘compliance is better than conviction’.

So, tomorrow will mark a significant milestone. Within a relatively short time, a huge amount has been achieved. Numbers registered to date are well beyond the estimated 20 per cent expected to have registered at the end of the first year, put forward in the explanatory memorandum of the housing Bill. I want to put on record my thanks to everybody at Rent Smart Wales, to Cardiff city council and to all local authorities for all their work. There is much more to do, Deputy Llywydd, but much has already been achieved.

We’ve arranged for the scheme to be independently evaluated over three years. The first interim report has been published today. Whilst the figures in the report are now out of date, it identifies requirements and potential issues going forward, including steps of relevance to enforcement, and these are in hand. The UK Government and a number of other countries, including Australia, are interested in the lead we’ve taken and are watching developments with interest. For me, the most important thing is what we do with this system so that it does make a positive difference to the lives of people in Wales who rent their home from a private landlord or agent. Thank you.