Tessa Shepperson Newsround #38

Welcome to another Friday and another Newsround.  Lets look first at

IDS on the circuit

My husband sometimes reads me snippets from Private Eye, the most recent (in issue #1454) being an item about Ian Duncan Smith in the HP section headed ‘Rental Income’.

Landlords may be interested to know that IDS, who has been vocal about the need to be fair to landlords on taxation, has trousered (a favourite eye term) some serious sums of money from landlord related events.  Including:

• £8,000 to speak at the National Landlord Investment Shows in June and November (£4K each)
  £3,500 for magazine articles, and
  £5,020 for speaking at the Negotiator Conference

That’s at least £16,500 for landlord related events. His total earnings from conference speaking overall was £45,000 in 2017. Not bad if you can get it.

My rates are a bit cheaper than that …

Tenants on the Telly

There has been a Panorama program questioning section 21 recently. I have not watched it yet, but there are some comments on its conclusions in the Eye post here.

The post also discusses the recent award (discussed in more detail in a Guardian article and on the BBC) made to tenants filmed by Channel 5 during an eviction which was later broadcast (35 times apparently) in ‘Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away’ who had asked for footage featuring them not to be shown. The tenants sued saying that the program had breached their right to privacy.

Channel 5 claimed that the program was in the public interest and that the scenes, for example, featuring the family being humiliated by the landlord’s son and pictures of the children’s bedrooms, were there to engage the public and stimulate debate.

Mr Justice Arnold did not agree:

“The focus of the programme was not upon the matters of public interest, but upon the drama of the conflict,” he said in a ruling handed down on Thursday. “The programme did contribute to a debate of general interest, but I consider the inclusion of the claimants’ private information went beyond what was justified for that purpose.”

So TV programs are going to have to be a bit more careful what footage they show in future.

A new case on Local Authority Licensing powers

Landlords will be pleased to learn of a new Court of Appeal decision which states that Councils should not use selective licensing conditions to impose new standards on private rented homes.

The case, which was supported by the RLA, involved Paul Brown, a landlord in Accrington, challenging Hyndburn Council which had tried to use its selective licensing scheme to force the installation of carbon monoxide detectors.

RLA policy adviser Richard Jones said:

“This case was not about trying to stop councils from imposing requirements. It was about how they go about this ensuring that they use the proper processes which already exist. Today’s judgement is a reminder that councils already have extensive powers to deal with properties found to be unsafe and they must act in a legal manner.”

Yet more consultations

There are SO MANY consultation documents coming out of the newly re-named Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government, it’s hard to keep up with them all. Here are some more:

• Electrical Safety Standards
• Strengthening Consumer Redress (including whether we should have a single Ombudsman)

I don’t know about you but I have given up answering most of them. After all, I DO have my own work to do …

But of course, if they affect you, you should put in a response otherwise you can’t really complain if they end up doing something you don’t like.

Some snippets

• The Government have confirmed that the Tenant Fee ban is unlikely to be introduced before April 2019
• If you rent to tenants on benefit (or whatever they call it nowadays) the Government has updated its published guides 
• Mayors and leaders of five London Boroughs have written a letter criticising the government for hampering their efforts to tackle criminal landlords by making it harder for them to set up licensing schemes.
• Nearly Legal reports on the new code of guidance published for the Homelessness Reduction Act.
• In Kings Lynn the Council is converting floors above shops in the city centre into accommodation to house the homeless under a £500,000 project

The story of No 20

And finally, there is a fascinating article in the Guardian focusing on a family house in Hayles Street in London. The property is owned by Southwark Council and was formerly a family home. However, it has been empty for some 2 ½ years and is now due to the sold at auction.

Another house lost and likely to be put forever out of reach of the ordinary working people it was originally built to house.

The article points out that the land was originally owned by a charity, Hayles Charity, before it was sold to the Council. It seems morally wrong, therefore (to me anyway) that it should now be sold to developers.

Newsround will be back next week.