The Government has pledged millions of pounds to help local councils crack down on criminal landlords and letting agents.
Over 100 councils will share £4 million to put towards enforcement action against rogue landlords and providing advice to tenants in regard to their housing rights.
The action will work alongside the government’s pledges in creating a fairer environment for privately renting tenants.
Councils have already been awarded increased powers through civil penalties and banning orders to encourage landlords to make the necessary improvements to their properties.
The new grants will support councils in upholding and using these powers in addition to promoting a range of fresh initiatives.
Greenwich Council will trial new technology which will look for particularly cold homes to help combat poor conditions over the winter period.
21 councils across Yorkshire will train 100 enforcement officers in ways of dealing with poor landlords and Northampton Council will create a ‘Special Operations Unit’ to carry out enforcement procedures against the worst landlords in the area.
Thurrock Council will also look to cater to the area’s most vulnerable tenants by improving the care service provisions for young tenants.
Housing Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:
“This government will 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.
“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.”
One Response
That a more active approach to leases as well as tenancies will be applied
Query. Does stating that rent is due within 10 days when the law allows 30 breach S2 Fraud Act 2006?
And (for further example) repossession for non-payment without demand
The Department needs to carry out an exercise where all domestic leases lodged at HMLR within a certain period are subjected to statutory compliance review by AI
Regulators should be required to issue :-
statutory compliance guidance and
spot fines for transgressions as well as other sanctions such as loss of reserved matters privileges.
If lawyers don’t stick to the law why should landlords?