Another week and another Newsround.
The Renters Reform Bill has gone a bit quiet this week, so let’s see what else our team has spotted in the housing news this week.
New website launched by TDS to help tenants
A new online platform ‘My Housing Issue’ has launched this week by the TDS Charitable Foundation that is aimed at helping private sector tenants get better and quicker recourse when they have a complaint or issue concerning their home.
According to research, tenants struggle to know where to go if their issue or complaint is not dealt with in the first instance by either their landlord or the letting agent. 69% of tenants said that they would definitely use a dedicated universal platform to escalate their complaint to the next level.
It will help tenants negotiate the correct route to resolve their issues, along with providing housing rights information and other options all in an interactive format.
The plan is for it to complement the new database when the Renters Rights Bill becomes law later this year and TDS Charitable Foundation have asked the government to include details of the website in the ‘How to Rent’ booklet going forward.
Dr Jennifer Harris, Head of Policy & Research at TDS Group said
Tenants are hungry for better, easy to access information to enforce their rights and hold criminal landlords to account. The Gateway will do just that, ensuring renters know where to go for the help they need, when they need it.
Landlords beware of growing cannabis farm phenomenon
Illegal cannabis farms grown in private rental properties is nothing new, however this week we read here of a prolific rogue letting agent who have taken this to another level, duping many honest landlords in the process.
The letting agent swoops in on properties advertised online and promises the landlord guaranteed rent, corporate professional tenants, repairs paid for by the letting agent, and amazingly 0% fees. The only caveat is that the landlord must never contact the tenants directly and give two months’ notice if they wish to have their property back. This should ring alarm bells to most landlords. However this company has duped many landlords into turning over their properties unknowingly for illegal cannabis farming.
Six landlords were interviewed and each letting resulted in over £30,000 worth of damage. The letting agent has never been found or brought to justice. It uses a practice known as ‘phoenixing’ where they start up a limited company, dissolve it with any fines or penalties going with it, then start up another company and start all over again.
Each landlord had to fight to get their property back once the rent either stopped being paid or they asked to see the property and the letting agent started to threaten them. For each landlord, it has been a horrific experience.
Ben Reeve-Lewis, the policy manager at Safer Renting, deals phoenixing regularly but says that local authority trading standards officers who are responsible for enforcing regulations are grossly under-resourced with just 2.46 officers for every 10,000 properties to inspect in London alone.
Landlords make sure to do your homework when signing up with a letting agent, do not rely on slick patter and smart suits, go to their offices check out their reviews, review their paperwork, and if it does seem too good to be true …… it probably is!
We are looking to publish a post on this shortly so watch out for it!
Another Rogue landlord hit with high fine
A rogue landlord of an HMO property, Charles Egbiremolen has been fined a whopping £37,000.00 by Barnet Council for operating an illegal HMO without a license with severe overcrowding with one room being shared by six people including children. The property was a mid-terraced property where the landlord had converted into eight bedsits.
Needless to say, as with most illegal HMOs, there were no health and safety measures undertaken, no means of escape in the event of a fire and the garden full of rubbish and building waste.
The District Judge described Mr Egbiremolen as a ‘classic rogue landlord’ who was ‘not a person who responds positively to laws and regulations’.
A council worker advised
It is the responsibility of every landlord to make sure that their properties comply with the law and their tenants are safe. Landlords who fail to licence or manage their HMOs or let properties in a state of disrepair risk prosecution or penalty notices of up to £30,000 per offence.
Landlords urged to document property inspections after eviction failure
A landlord in Wales has lost his possession claim because he was unable to prove that a carbon monoxide detector had been purchased or installed.
With enforcement and penalties due to increase with the Renters Rights Bill it is absolutely essential that all landlords carry out regular inspections and keep detailed records.
Landlords unsure how to do this can find out more from our Property Inspection Kit (available free of charge to Landlord Law members).
Snippets
Big London council to bring back selective licensing
Tenant group says ‘landlord’s can’t be trusted’ to regulate themselves
Another council wants private landlords to help it tackle homelessness
Should landlords worry about EPC deadline? No, says leading expert
Angela Rayner is right to home in on rogue landlords
See also our Quick News Updates on Landlord Law
Newsround will be back again next week