53 Councils Have Not Prosecuted A Single Landlord In Three Years

More than one in seven councils in England and Wales have failed to prosecute a single bad landlord over the past three years, despite some having very high numbers of homes classed as “non-decent”, the Guardian has found. Freedom of information responses show that 53 of the 349 local authorities with responsibility for the private rented sector did not convict any landlords for breaching property standards in 2015, 2016 or 2017. Some of these councils have thousands of private homes in poor states of disrepair and hundreds of illegal bedsit-style homes, which typically have the worst overcrowding and living conditions. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/oct/24/53-councils-have-not-prosecuted-a-single-landlord-in-three-years

What Makes A Criminal Landlord?

The Government are now consulting on the offences that should constitute ‘banning order offences’ for landlords as defined by section 14 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016. The online consultation period will run until 10th February 2017. The government will be introducing these measures on a phased basis, and CLG currently planning to bring in the civil penalties and extended rent repayment orders on 6th April 2017. The criminal landlord database, banning order provisions and management orders will be brought into force on 1st October 2017. However, these dates are currently subject to change. The consultation can be found on the CLG website.

Landlords Facing Jail Over Right To Rent Breaches

Landlords that knowingly rent out property to people who have no right to rent in the UK could be sent to prison. In her speech to the Conservative Party Conference Home Secretary, Amber Rudd MP announced that from December landlords ignoring the Right to Rent rules brought in this February will be committing a criminal offence and could be jailed. She said the party is committed to reducing net migration to sustainable levels of ‘tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands’. She also announced a £140m Controlling Migration Fund to ease the pressures on public services in areas of high migration – and to fund enforcement operations against criminal landlords. Read more on the RLA website.

Council Rejects Landlord Licensing Plan

Wandsworth Council has abandoned plans to introduce landlord licensing.At a meeting to discuss the issue the authority noted that as there had been a reduction in the number of complaints about PRS homes and a high level of tenant satisfaction there was no evidence to justify bringing in additional or selective licensing. As an alternative it has come up with a 10-point plan to tackle criminal landlords and regulate the PRS using existing powers. These are:

·         Prioritising housing enforcement in the wards with the most complaints

·         Setting up targeted action days

·         Streamlining administration support so officers can concentrate on landlord / tenant activity

·         Improving information and advice on the council’s website

·         Reviewing processes for serving legal notices

Read the other five on the RLA website.

Housing Bill Should Also Include Rogue Tenants List

The Housing and Planning Bill, which includes measures to tackle criminal landlords and letting agents, should also address the issue of problem tenants. Included in the Bill are proposals to ban and fine criminal landlords and letting agents, introduce rent repayment orders and establish a database of 'blacklisted' landlords and agents. It has been proposed that the 'blacklist' will be maintained by local housing authorities, who will also have to apply for offenders to be included in the database. The AIIC, who are calling for these measures, says it welcomes aiming to stamp out the minority of criminal operators letting property to the nation's tenants. However, the association says more could be done to highlight the issue of problem tenants. Read more on 24dash.

Funds To Tackle Criminal Landlords Not Enough

New funds to tackle criminal landlords are not enough, argues a leading landlord body. The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) was speaking following confirmation of the 48 councils to share in the Government’s £5 million fund to tackle criminal landlords. Whilst the RLA welcomes efforts to root out criminal landlords it is arguing that the money announced is not sufficient to tackle the minority of landlords who cause misery for their tenants. It is also warning that the funds could be wasted by local authorities because of a system that fails to free up local authorities to target the hard to find criminals. In 2014, Professor Michael Ball of Reading University warned that the costs of enforcement were being borne by good landlords at the expense of criminals. Read more on the RLA website.

LGA Calls For Rogue Landlord Database

A far-ranging national government-backed database, covering all housing-related convictions, should be created to help councils launch a crackdown on "postcode" rogue landlords who are endangering tenants' lives. The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents over 370 councils in England and Wales, says serial criminal landlords, who are being blocked from operating by some boroughs running licensing schemes, may be moving to other postcodes and trying to set up their unscrupulous businesses. The LGA is calling for:

·         A much tougher "fit and proper person" test – an initial screening process which is designed to weed out rogue landlords

·         Letting agents to be brought under the same legislation as estate agents so the bad operators can be booted out

·         Stronger sentencing guidelines for magistrates and a wider range of penalties

Read more on the LGA website.

Private Rented Housing: Evictions – Parliamentary Written Answer

Kate Osamor:  To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to further control the ability of private landlords to evict tenants at short notice.

Brandon Lewis: The Housing and Planning Bill introduced on 13 October contains a range of measures that are intended to crack down on criminal landlords, thereby helping to improve the sector and ensure tenants get a better deal. There will be a blacklist of rogue landlords and letting agents, banning orders for the most prolific and serious offenders, civil penalties of up to £5,000 for certain breaches of housing legislation, Rent Repayment Orders to cover situations where a tenant has been illegally evicted or the landlord has failed to rectify a serious health and safety hazard in the property, and a tougher fit and proper person test for landlords letting out licensed properties, such as Houses in Multiple Occupation.

Shelter Doesn’t Go Far Enough On Criminal Landlords

The Residential Landlord's Association (RLA) has accused the housing charity Shelter of failing to tackle criminal landlords.  The RLA has called on the charity to stop referring to criminal landlords as "rogues" and to "call a spade a spade".  Shelter has recently started research into the effect that criminal landlords have on the health of children and families.  The research has found that one in nine renters says their health has been affected by their landlord failing to carry out repairs or deal with poor conditions in their home. Read more on the RLA website.