rogue landlords

Councils awarded share of £4m to tackle rogue landlords and letting agents

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I think my relatively local MP, Robert Jenrick, is fronting up a number of really interesting initiatives, this might be much “smaller beer” than the towns fund work he has initiated but I believe it’s an important step and not something which is relevant just to urban authorities. This story tells us:

A government offer of £4m for councils to crack down on rogue landlords has been dismissed as a “drop in the ocean” which will not be enough to end exploitation of vulnerable renters.

Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said the money would be shared between more than 100 councils across England to tackle landlords who flout the law by offering inadequate or unsafe homes.

Mr Jenrick said the scheme, whose funding was announced in November, would help deliver “a better deal for renters”.

“It’s completely unacceptable that a minority of unscrupulous landlords continue to break the law and provide homes which fall short of the standards we rightly expect – making lives difficult for hard-working tenants who just want to get on with their lives,” he said.

“Everyone deserves to live in a home that is safe and secure, and the funding announced today will strengthen councils’ powers to crack down on poor landlords and drive up standards in the private rented sector for renters across the country.”

Rogue landlords have little to fear from cash-strapped councils

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This article demonstrates how difficult it is in the current climate to tackle the actions of rogue landlords in the public interest. It tells us:

There are two ways to deal with rogue landlords: either licence all landlords (as is being done in Scotland and Wales) or simply target the rogue landlords, which is what this impending housing bill proposes.

David Cameron is right that his government is going further than previous governments in dealing with rogue landlords. But these new plans presuppose that local authorities have a well-funded crew of trained people able to use this legislation to tackle rogue landlords – but most don’t.

The recent swingeing council budget cuts of April 2015 have led to many enforcement posts being deleted and people doubling up on duties they have no previous experience of. Without enough staff to enforce these standards rogue landlords will continue to operate beyond the resources of councils.

Work in Lincolnshire, for example on former RAF bases has demonstrated that the issue of rogue landlords is not just a city problem.