Council Sets Legal Landmark In Slum Landlord Case

In a landmark case, a London borough has become the first Council in the country to use the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) against slum landlords for breaches of licensing conditions. A Recorder at Harrow Crown Court ordered that POCA could be used to recover criminal assets that the Shah family obtained from cramming 31 tenants into living conditions described as “filthy and dangerous”. Brent Council officers discovered one woman living in lean-to shack next to the four-bedroom property in Wembley during a raid in July 2016. Read more on 24housing.

http://www.24housing.co.uk/news/council-sets-legal-landmark-in-slum-landlord-case/

Move To Midlands or Be Homeless

A London mum has branded her local council “inhumane” – because she has been told to move to the Midlands. Cecilia Bruce-Annan, from Edgware, north-west London, has been told to move with her three children to Stoke-on-Trent because of the benefits cap. The 42-year-old, who says she has no idea where Stoke even is, says she has been treated viciously by Harrow Council. She has been told to leave her housing association home of three years by September 4 after racking up rent arrears of more than £2,000 after falling into debt because of the newly imposed cap. Read more on the Birmingham Mail website.

Council Spending £500,000 Renting Back Homes Flogged Off Under Right to Buy

Harrow Council is paying nearly £500,000 a year renting back homes it used to own – a situation denounced as “utterly ludicrous” by the borough’s housing chief. The council has revealed it is leasing 35 properties sold under the right to buy (RTB) scheme, with landlords being paid up to £350 a week for a four-bed property. It means that Harrow people are effectively paying hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to put tenants into houses the authority was forced to sell. Read more on 24dash.

Council Takes To the Skies in Battle against 'Beds in Sheds'

Harrow Council is taking to the skies and using thermal imaging technology to tackle the borough's growing 'beds in sheds' problem. Accurate thermal images are combined with detailed laser scanning (LiDAR) measurements to give staff at Harrow Council a much better understanding of where unpermitted developments may have been erected and the number of people living in them - identified as 'hot spots' on the mapping software.  Read more on 24dash.

Shocking Extent of Illegal 'Beds in Sheds'

Hundreds of rogue landlords in one London borough are illegally renting out 'beds in sheds' to immigrants on an industrial scale. Harrow Council chartered a plane with thermal imaging to fly over streets picking up heat and found four times more 'suspicious' outbuildings than expected. Aerial photos revealed that instead of 75 suspected illegal developments at the bottom of gardens or in garages, there were actually at least 319. Read more on the Daily Mail website.

'Beds in Sheds' Raid

A council raid as part of an investigation into 'beds in sheds' has uncovered a home where three tenants were each paying £55 a week for a nothing more than a mattress in a single shared room. Officers discovered that the semi-detached house in Waltham Drive, Harrow had been subdivided to accommodate around 11 adults. Harrow Council's investigators also found that mains appliances were being run from a customised power source next to a light fitting in the ceiling at the property. There were no smoke alarms present and rubbish had been left in sacks at the rear of the house. Read more on 24dash.

Grants To Move To Support Residents and Free Up Housing Stock

Harrow Council is working to ease the current housing crisis by offering a grant for existing council tenants to downsize or move into private accommodation. The Grants to Move scheme gives people advice and financial support to move into accommodation of their choice. Any moves will help to free up some of the 5,000 council or housing association properties in the borough for people on Harrow’s 4,000 strong council house waiting list. The scheme will also save the council money. Harrow Council spends around £3m a year on housing need service which includes putting families up in temporary accommodation. For example, the cost of putting up a family, which would be eligible for a four bedroom property, in temporary accommodation could cost around £16,000 a year. Read more on the Harrow Council website.

Council Given Funds to Tackle Social Housing Fraud

Harrow Council's housing fraud team is among a group of council investigators to be awarded additional funding to tackle social housing fraud. The Government funding will be used to bolster Harrow Council's corporate fraud team and Housing Management Team so the authority can take full advantage of the new law. Harrow Council is one of the leading authorities in the country when it comes to detecting housing tenancy fraud. In 'protecting the Public Purse' 2012, the Audit Commission highlights Harrow for its outstanding work, compared to local authorities outside of London, where more than half failed to recover a single property from unlawful tenants last year.  Read more on the Harrow Council website.

'Cash Incentive' For Council Tenants Moving Abroad

Council tenants in a London borough could be offered cash incentives to move abroad.  Harrow Council said offers of up to £20,000 could be made to those who were "already considering moving abroad" and it would be "entirely their choice".  It was one of the ideas presented to tenants and leaseholders at a meeting looking into freeing up housing stock. Moving tenants into smaller homes and into private accommodation were other options being considered.  The local authority said it had 5,000 homes, which was one of the smallest stocks of social housing in the capital. It stressed the ideas discussed were at a "very early stage".  Read more on the BBC website.

Council Looks To Private Landlords to Cut Waiting List

In a "London first", Harrow Council has set up a letting agency to match residents on the housing waiting list with private landlords. Called Help2Let, the agency is a way to bridge the gap between the high demand for social housing and a lack of supply, which is getting worse due to reductions in government funding and the impact of the recession. The council said it ensures the less well off who are unable to secure social housing are not forced to find sub-standard accommodation. Under the scheme, the council puts residents in need of social housing in touch with approved private landlords, whose properties must meet set standards. This tenant finding service is paid for by the landlords, who in turn receive expert advice and support from an account manager in the Help2Let team. In addition, the council provides landlords with a two month rent guarantee bond. Read more on the Harrow Council website.