It’s time to get tough on rogue landlords and with an award of £360,000 of government funding announced this week Enfield Council is determined to tackle them.
The funding is part of a £5 million package of measures in the Housing & Planning Bill which also provides protection for tenants against retaliatory eviction where they have a legitimate complaint, and stops landlords from serving open-ended eviction notices at the start of a tenancy.
Cllr Ahmet Oykener, Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing & Housing Regeneration, said: “We are determined to use the funding to deal with landlords who let out substandard, unsafe and overcrowded housing and who think that charging very high rents is acceptable. It isn’t.
“This new funding provides us with more resources to carry out more raids, increase inspections of property, to issue more statutory notices, survey more streets and to demolish sheds and dangerous prohibited buildings.
“A multi-disciplinary team of housing and planning enforcement officers, supported by immigration enforcement and police started additional inspections on Thursday 28th January.”
Robust enforcement action includes: serving enforcement notices to improve property; fines of up to £20,000 imposed on successful prosecution; and demolition and prohibition orders for uninhabitable properties.
Such action is taken when landlords are renting out overcrowded and dangerous accommodation, and illegal use of outbuildings (such as ‘beds in sheds’) which can cause health problems for tenants and result in wider concerns in the local community such as noise problems; greater fire risk; council tax and benefit fraud and anti-social behaviour..
The measures will not hamper the vast majority of landlords who are diligent and responsible.
Cllr Oykener, added: “We are cracking down on those who cause misery and despair for tenants renting in appalling conditions. Rogue landlords allow people to live in unhealthy and dangerous conditions.
“There are many good honest landlords in Enfield, but the rogue landlords bring the private rented sector into disrepute. We now have the means to end their illegal practice in Enfield and we will use our powers and resources to do so.”
Anyone who has suspicions about a property or is indeed a tenant living in poor conditions can report it to the team by email – housingenforcement@enfield.gov.uk or call 07984 614565 from Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. All reports will be treated in confidence,
Notes & information about Rogue Landlords
• Nationally since 2011 nearly 40,000 inspections have taken place in properties with over 3,000 landlords facing further enforcement action or prosecution.
• This new funding to tackle rogue landlords is part of a package of proposals in the Housing and Planning Bill to ensure that England’s nine million private tenants feel confident to demand better standards and management of their property by landlords.
• Exorbitant rents are charged in sub-standard accommodation. Typically a three bed flat in N9 can be charged at £1,300 per month; single rooms in ‘Houses of Multiple Occupation’ (HMOs) between £400 – £575 per month, and a ‘bed in a shed’ £700 a month.
Measures in the Housing & Planning Bill include:
• database of rogue landlords and property agents convicted of certain offences
• banning orders for the most serious and prolific offenders
• introduction of civil penalties of up to £30,000 as an alternative to prosecution
• extension of Rent Repayment Orders to cover illegal eviction, breach of a banning order or failure to comply with a statutory notice
• more stringent fit and proper person test for landlords of licensable properties such as Houses in Multiple Occupation
• From 1 February 2016 landlords in England will have to carry out Right to Rent checks to ensure potential tenants have the right to rent property in the country.