Council reveals 43 fines totalling £217,000 for rogue landlords

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One of London’s big councils says landlords with properties within its boundaries have been issued with fines totalling £207,500 for not licencing HMO properties.

The extraordinary sum covers a four-year period which includes 43 fines with a further 16 warnings that were resolved before being becoming a Civil Penalty Notice.

Haringey council has warned any other landlords who have yet to licence their HMOs that as well as a fine the council will help their tenants chase them through the Tribunal system for a Rent Repayment Order.

Cllr Sarah Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Private Renters and Planning, says: “We will do everything in our power to protect our residents in the private rented sector in Haringey.

“Our HMO licensing scheme provides us with an even better platform to do this.

Renters’ rights

“Whilst we continue this journey to improve housing standards across the borough, we will fight for renters’ rights and ensure residents across Haringey live in homes that are well managed, of good quality and most of all, safe.

“As shown with this case, landlords who fail to comply will face tough enforcement action. Rogue landlords will not be tolerated in Haringey.”

The fines will cause some controversy among its landlords, whether they are compliant with its HMO and Selective Licencing schemes or not.

Decent homes

In March Haringey was censured for managing its own stock of rental properties poorly, with the Regulatory of Social Housing finding that 30% of its homes did not meet the Decent Homes Standard and that thousands of requests to repair properties had not been completed.

The council was also criticised recently following an National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) investigation into its Additional (or HMO) licencing scheme.

It said the council’s own data revealed that “Haringey is inspecting properties but finding significantly fewer category 1 (i.e. serious) hazards than you would expect if the properties were substandard, which the council used as justification for introducing the designation”, said Samantha Watkin (pictured), Senior Policy Officer at the NRLA.

View Full Article: Council reveals 43 fines totalling £217,000 for rogue landlords

Landlord banned after shoe-horning dozen people into illegal property

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A landlord has been banned for allowing 12 people to live in his unlicensed HMO that was branded a fire risk.

Ashiq Rasul has been removed from the landlord register in Scotland after Glasgow City Council’s licensing committee heard the eight-bedroom property in Paisley Road West (main picture) was inspected by fire service and council officials, who discovered exposed wiring.

They also found a lack of smoke alarms, doors with padlocks and had concerns over the condition of the boiler and gas hob, reports the BBC.

Committee chair Alex Wilson said the landlord had made “glaring errors” and told Rasul: “It looks as if you have just shoehorned people into this property and it’s not fit for purpose.”

Concerns

Wilson (pictured) added: “There are items identified on inspection which are massive causes for concerns, where you’ve got exposed wiring. That was a recipe for disaster. You could have easily had a fire in that property.”

When a council official made an unannounced inspection, Rasul, who would occasionally stay at the flat, failed to identify himself and maintained he was a friend of the landlord.

The official added that no legionella risk assessment, proof of building insurance or information on tenancy deposits had been provided. A suspension of rent order was issued in February.

Rasul’s son claimed most of the work had been carried out, and that a gas safety and electrical report had now been provided to the council.

He told the committee: “It’s mostly students in there, they’ve been getting their pals over. Whenever we go over, the pals are just stopping for a wee bit, that’s what we’ve been told. They’re going to leave, but they end up staying.”

Read more: The Complete Guide to renting an HMO.

View Full Article: Landlord banned after shoe-horning dozen people into illegal property

End landlord squeeze or face social breakdown, Ministers warned

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The boss of one of the UK’s biggest lenders has warned of impending social breakdown unless the squeeze on private landlords is eased.

Skipton Building Society chief executive, Stuart Haire (main picture), says “demonised” landlords are dealing with crippling taxes, rising mortgage costs and increased red tape that has made the housing crisis worse.

In an interview with the Telegraph, he blamed unaffordable property prices and rising rents for a disappearing middle class. Haire said a toxic mix of rising costs meant it no longer made financial sense for some landlords to stay in the sector, and that the resulting reduced supply of rental accommodation meant more people on social housing lists as well as higher prices.

“You’ll have an awful lot of people maybe back living with the family in difficult circumstances, you’ll have a lot more social pressure,” he predicted.

Breakdown

He added that there was “a genuine risk of social cohesion breakdown” triggered by a lack of housing affordability and increasingly divided fortunes between the “haves and have nots” in society that could give rise to “desperate acts”.

Haire urged the government to think harder about the impact of higher taxes and other costs imposed on landlords and ultimately renters.

“There’s [fewer landlords] coming in. It’s just all becoming a bit hard. They’re not yet selling up, because there isn’t yet the level of buying demand in the market because mortgage costs are going up.”

Gavin Richardson, MD of Mortgages for Business, echoed Haire’s comments and questioned what would happen if landlords were taken out of the housing equation.

“The impact on the property market would be significant and almost entirely negative,” he said. “It’s not as if the government is pouring money into social housing or making any progress on house building. Landlords are bailing the government out.”

Read the interview in full.

View Full Article: End landlord squeeze or face social breakdown, Ministers warned

Tenant activist groups and the law of unintended consequences

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It’s not often that two separate stories manage to tell the unfolding horror of what is happening to the private rented sector – and both involve so-called tenant activist groups.

This is a story about unintended consequences and the sting in the tail that is coming to tenants everywhere.

View Full Article: Tenant activist groups and the law of unintended consequences

New student tenant alleges mould – but we can’t find it?

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Hello everyone, I have a student tenant who moved in on July 1st and as soon as little more than 2 weeks later he was already threatening legal action against me and going to the council for alleged mould issues.

View Full Article: New student tenant alleges mould – but we can’t find it?

Trouble with managing agent over directorship?

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Hello, I own a flat in a block of 15 flats. Some of them are rented and some of us live here. We own the freehold.

I am a shareholder and was a director at one point. I didn’t resign as a director.

View Full Article: Trouble with managing agent over directorship?

Which type of agreement/tenancy do I need?

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Hello, I have a prospective tenant who wants to rent my property. They are actually friends of mine.

They are from Lithuania and have passed all necessary checks. I have only ever let before using Assured Shorthold Tenancies.

View Full Article: Which type of agreement/tenancy do I need?