English Housing Survey/Private Landlords Survey
Published by DCLG/DECC in 2001
Data Type:Sample survey
This data comes from a periodic follow-up survey of private landlords and agents (the Private Landlords Survey (PLS)) is conducted using information from the English Housing Survey interview survey. Information collected includes: respondent characteristics; landlord's portfolio; nationality/ethnicity; licensing; letting practice; acquisition of the rental property; current letting; financial information about current letting; tenancies that ended in last two years; repairs; neighbourhood; landlord problems.
The government is looking to reduce the cost of the English Housing Survey. Following a review in early 2015, they have decided to not pause the survey or continue it on a biannual basis. However, it is likely that aspects of the survey methodology and the data collected will alter somewhat in the upcoming years. It is not clear if they plan to conduct the Private Landlords Survey again.
Time
This follow-up survey is conducted periodically. It was conducted in 2001, 2003, 2006 and 2010
Dataset Quality
Some changes were made to questions between the 2006 and 2010 versions of the questionnaire which presents issues for continuity. New questions were included which look at choice of letting/management agent for instance. The sample was derived from renters' responses to two years' of the household interviews. Landlords whose properties were empty at the time of the initial survey are therefore excluded. Where tenants refused to participants, landlords were also excluded. As a sampling frame for private landlords the PLS therefore suffers from under-coverage. "problem landlords" and "problem tenants" may also be underrepresented due to non-response bias.
As with previous years, the 2010 survey was based on information collated on DCLG's main housing survey. Respondents taking part in the ECHS 2007-2008 (see under SN 6449 on UK Data Service site) and the EHS 2008-2009 (see under SN 7040 on UK Data Service site) who were recorded as private renters were asked to provide details of their landlord. These details formed the main sample for the 2010 PLS.
Dataset Access and Use
An anonymised PLS dataset is provided for 2010 via the UK Data Service. Datasets with additional geographic identifiers are available only via Secure Access at the UK Data Service although the unit of this is not clear. It seems likely that datasets for 2001, 2003 and 2006 could be obtained although these would need to be requested,
Government attitudes to research use of their data appear favourable.
Geography
Freely available datasets have restricted geographic identifiers to avoid disclosure of participants. English Housing Survey datasets with detailed geographic identifiers may appear to be available via Secure Access agreement with the UK Data Service although it is not clear what level of geographical identifier could be obtained.
