Jon Trickett: To
ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he
is taking to help strengthen local authority powers to deal
with rogue landlords.
Gavin Barwell: The Government introduced a package of
measures in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 to help local authorities crack down on rogue
landlords. They comprise civil penalties of up to £30,000 as an alternative to
prosecution, the expansion of Rent Repayment Orders to cover a wider range of
offences, a database of rogue landlords and property agents and banning orders
to prevent serious and prolific offenders from being involved in the renting
out or management of private rented properties. In addition, over the past five
years, we have have made £12 million available to a range of local authorities
to help them tackle acute and complex problems associated with rogue landlords.
This has resulted in the inspection of over 70,000 properties with more than
5,000 landlords now facing further enforcement action.
