Private landlords say they have not been properly consulted on plans to introduce mandatory registration.

A consultation on the Landlord Registration Bill ended on Monday this week.

The bill aims to establish minimum standards in private rental housing.

But the Manx Landlords Association is calling for a 12-week extension to the consultation.

The group, which has more than 130 members, says the Covid-19 lockdown has meant it needs more time to respond.

Infrastructure Minister Tim Baker wrote to MLA on the day of its meeting last week, just days before the consultation closed, to invite the group to take part.

He said the association is not a recognised industry body, so is not a statutory consultee.

Committee member Stephen Moore pointed out the MLA had been treated as a statutory consultee the last time a landlords’ register was proposed.

He said: ’How on earth were we the representative body five years ago and yet this time around we are not?’

As well as a 12-week extension to the consultation, the MLA is calling for the Department of Infrastructure to give a briefing to all landlords to give them a better understanding of the thinking behind the bill.

Mr Moore said: ’I don’t understand the need for a register. We are already registered - every local authority has a list of landlords anyway.’

He said the consultation gives no information about how much the charges are likely to be and whether they will be levied per landlord or per property.

Mr Moore said most landlords only own one or two properties and were concerned about how they will be able to afford some of the improvements that may be required under the legislation.

’It’s a myth that landlords are filthy rich,’ he said.

He also doubted whether the problem of sub-standard properties was as big as claimed.

Mr Moore said: ’Most landlords are doing their repairs regularly. There is plenty of legislation already to cover sub-standard housing. It’s another myth that it’s like the Wild West out there with no regulation.

’I’m sure there are some things that need improving but I simply don’t believe there are tons of bad properties.’

Landlord registration was recommended by the island’s Safeguarding Board as part of a serious case management review into the death of a vulnerable man who had been living in ’poor’ private rented accommodation.

The idea of a central register of landlords was a key part of a Landlord and Tenant Private Housing Bill in 2014. The bill was dropped in 2015 after a committee recommended the ’flawed’ proposals should be completely redrafted.