Landlord jailed after ignoring court order to improve rat-infested property

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A rogue landlord has been jailed for 10 months after he failed to comply with conditions set by a court concerning his rat-infested property.

Martin Ambler admitted four counts of breaching a criminal behaviour order in May 2022 but sentencing was deferred so that he could instruct housing experts or a management company to inspect and provide a report on all his properties within Bolsover District, Derbyshire.

He was also ordered to cooperate with the council to provide full financial information about any companies of which he was a director and was told not to commit any further offences.

One of Ambler’s houses on the West Lea estate in Clowne (pictured) was infested with rats, droppings were found on a mattress, a child’s artwork had been chewed and the rodents had even caused a leak by chewing through a water pipe.

The family home contained numerous Category 1 hazards including holes in the walls, gaps in decaying windows, doors that didn’t close properly and leaking external doors.

At another property, he left large amounts of fly-tipped rubbish in the gardens while metal shutters were attached to the windows.

Similar behaviour

However, since this court appearance at Derby Crown Court last August, the landlord has been in breach of his criminal behaviour order and the judge’s instructions by not providing the relevant information on a number of conditions, Chesterfield Crown Court heard.

The landlord has a history of similar behaviour; in 2017, Ambler was slapped with a £2,500 fine and handed a criminal behaviour order after North East Derbyshire District Council’s environmental health team received 11 complaints about waste accumulating at a property in North Wingfield. Other tenants also complained about damp and mould, lack of heating, blood-stained walls, and faulty electrics.

View Full Article: Landlord jailed after ignoring court order to improve rat-infested property

LATEST: Greens say ‘immediate’ rent freeze is only answer to housing crisis

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Landlords wanting to back the eco movement may want to pause for thought after the Green Party today vowed to bring in an immediate rent freeze and no-fault eviction ban to tackle the housing crisis.

During an election campaign visit to Suffolk, party co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay told supporters that it believed – like Labour – that councils should be handed powers to cap rents in areas where the market was overheated.

In the short term, the Greens would replicate the six-month winter rent freeze supported by the Scottish Greens in Scotland. In the longer-term, it would give councils powers to control rents in expensive areas.

Denyer said too many people were “trapped in housing unaffordable to rent, and unaffordable to heat”.

The party also wants tighter planning rules on the location of new housing, 100,000 council houses built every year to increase the supply of affordable housing funded by increasing taxes on wealth and to boost energy efficiency by requiring solar panels and heat pumps to be installed on new build homes.

Scots freeze

However, in Scotland where a rent freeze has just ended and for the next six months, rent increases in the PRS will be limited to 3%, rent controls don’t appear to be working.

Rents in the private sector rose at a faster rate than the rest of Britain, almost 5% in the 12 months to February 2023. In the six months before the legislative change, it had the lowest monthly average.

View Full Article: LATEST: Greens say ‘immediate’ rent freeze is only answer to housing crisis

Tribunal ‘concerned’ councils using licencing to generate income not improve PRS

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A First Tier Property Tribunal has slammed Nottingham Council for covering large swathes of the city with licensing schemes rather than targeting rogue landlords, a ‘temptation’ it says is faced by other local authorities.

Justice for Tenants brought a case on behalf of a tenant couple who applied for a £12,946 Rent Repayment Order after they discovered the property in St Jude’s Avenue (main picture) did not have a licence. However, the tribunal reduced the award to 90% and criticised ‘blanket schemes’.

After ruling that the offence of not having a selective licence was not unduly serious on its own “when taking account of the range of potential offences such as harassment or unlawful eviction” the tribunal at first reduced the award to 40%.

However, it added: “We are also concerned that Nottingham City Council appears to have imposed a selective licensing regime over a substantial part of its area rather than targeting particular areas where problems of poor housing and anti-social behaviour are found.

“We are concerned that local authorities adopting this approach may be tempted to regard the licensing regulations as being a regular source of income rather than dealing with the issues for which they were intended.”

Landlord defence

The landlord, Mrs French, explained that the scheme had not been in place when she first let the house in 2017, that she had kept it well maintained, had not increased the rent for years and had been living in America during the time.

Taking the landlord’s financial circumstances into account – less than £2,000 in savings – and the fact she had only rented out the property for 41 months due to a move abroad for her husband’s work, the tribunal reduced the award to £774.

It added: “The purpose of a rent repayment order is to deter landlords from unlawful action and to prevent repeat offences…she is not letting property at the moment and there is little chance that she will do so in the foreseeable future.”

Read the Tribunal decision in full.

View Full Article: Tribunal ‘concerned’ councils using licencing to generate income not improve PRS

Since when did a rent freeze mean don’t pay rent?

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It has been a busy time for landlords with several stories that would normally make my blood run cold, but let’s start with a question: ‘Since when did a rent freeze mean no need to pay rent?’

I ask this

View Full Article: Since when did a rent freeze mean don’t pay rent?

Propertymark calls for an end to the freeze on local housing allowance

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Propertymark, the body for letting agents, says ‘enough is enough’ and is calling for an end to the freeze on local housing allowance (LHA) and it wants more support for renters.

The organisation’s policy and campaigns officer, Tim Thomas

View Full Article: Propertymark calls for an end to the freeze on local housing allowance

Have you been hit by the ‘cost of landlording’ crisis? Here’s some help

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There is a lot of talk at the moment about how rents are up by 11% across the UK and although I know it’s tough on renters, landlord costs have, in many cases, doubled.

This includes mortgage premium payments following interest rates rises from 0.5% to 4% in just 12 months, and HMRC abolishing landlords’ Section 24 tax reliefs. Consequently, one in 10 landlords are now saying that they are selling up.

Alphaletz is a software company for landlords, and we have today announced that we want to do our bit to help, giving away a FREE Premium account which includes Open Banking for up to three properties.

As the founder of Alphaletz and a portfolio landlord too, I realise being a landlord is now harder than ever and we all need to treat our property investments as professional businesses.

There is just too much compliance and regulation to manage on a spreadsheet and the market is well overdue some new modern software to make landlords lives easier.

Bold decision

That’s why we made the bold decision to give our product away so that landlords can set up their own accounts and see how simple it can be.

I really hope that this will help keep landlords in the market, there is a desperate shortage of rental properties and landlords are selling up because it’s just too hard!’

Alphaletz was founded over three years ago to solve the problem that many landlords face of having to manage their portfolios on spreadsheets or other home-made systems that were never designed for property management.

The world has gone digital and even HMRC are talking about Making Tax Digital in 2026 for landlords too. Sooner or later, we will all have to migrate to new ways of working, so we want to help people get started now and see just how easy it is.

 ‘Landlords need a better and easier way of working and are trying really hard to keep up with all the changes, we could tell by the overwhelming response we had from new users setting up new accounts after the webinar’ he also said ‘we also gave away lots of free resources too like Tenant Application Forms, Inventory Report templates and more that users could download. Landlords want more control, and we are building a community and product to help them’

Who is Richard Jackson?

He is the co-founder of Alphaletz, a software system designed specifically for landlords and property managers to help them save time and money. It is an official partner with LandlordZONE.

Richard co-hosted a webinar last week on the Renters’ Reform Bill with Paul Shamplina with over 1,000 registrations.

View Full Article: Have you been hit by the ‘cost of landlording’ crisis? Here’s some help

Housing market picks up with prices rising in March

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The UK’s average house price grew by 0.8% in March, the second month running that prices have picked up after February’s 1.2% rise, Halifax says.

However, the lender says that the annual rate of house price growth continues to slow and was 1.6% in the year to March.

View Full Article: Housing market picks up with prices rising in March

Campaign launched to fight policies ‘damaging Scotland’s PRS’

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Landlords in Scotland are being urged to back a National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) campaign that will challenge policies from the Sottish Government that damage the country’s private rented sector (PRS).

The move follows a decision by the government to develop a rent freeze and ban on repossessions in the PRS without proper consultation with stakeholders.

View Full Article: Campaign launched to fight policies ‘damaging Scotland’s PRS’

NEW: Coalition slams Scots Government over rent cap and evictions freeze

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Landlords have heavily criticised the Scottish government’s decision to implement its evictions freeze and rent cap without a proper consultation.

The measures, which were widely criticised earlier this year for being rushed through, are now being fought by a coalition of organisations from across the UK’s private rented sector.

These are the Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL), the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), PropertyMark and Scottish Land and Estates (SLE).

Individual landlords are being asked to back the campaign by donating to an online crowdfunding page to fund a previously announced judicial review of the Scottish Government’s policies. It aims to raise £10,000 and is currently at £2,600.

This will seek to prevent the measures being extended beyond the legal cut-off date of 20^th September 2023.

Criticism has come from other quarters other than landlords including leading build-to-rent figure Paul Stallan who has called the measures “a blunt instrument” which is “proving to be damaging” to investment.

The Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland has similarly warned that the rent cap will “undermine tenants’ housing outcomes”, by restricting the supply of homes available to rent.  

Deeply worrying

“Renters across Scotland are being hit by policies which undermine the supply of the very homes they need,” says Ben Beadle (pictured), Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association.

“It is deeply worrying that such damaging and short-sighted policies can be developed without proper consultation with stakeholders.

“I urge all those wanting sensible policy that works for both renters and responsible landlords to support the campaign.”

John Blackwood (pictured), Chief Executive of the Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL), adds: “Our job is to stand up for our members and to represent their views.

“Over the years we have been able to do that in a constructive manner with the Scottish Government and, as a result, have secured changes which have improved the private rented sector in Scotland.

“However, arbitrary rent freezes and eviction bans discriminate against private landlords, reduce investment and harm both landlords and tenants, while making it harder to solve Scotland’s housing crisis.”

“With pressure being placed on landlords by governments throughout the UK, now more than ever, landlords all over the country need to work together in ensuring our voice is heard.”             

View Full Article: NEW: Coalition slams Scots Government over rent cap and evictions freeze

Tory think-tank and Shelter push for three-year tenancies for PRS

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The government should introduce three-year tenancies to protect tenants from uncertainty and rising rents, according to a liberal conservative think tank report.

The Bright Blue group has teamed up with Shelter to publish, ‘Home advantage: a new centre-right vision for housing’ which is billed as a radical vision for modern conservative housing policy, and a blueprint for policymakers.

It includes thought pieces from Conservative MPs, academics and charity bosses such as  James Cowling (pictured), founder of campaign group Next Generation Tories, who calls for a cultural shift in the perception of the relationship between landlords and tenants.

“Too often, the prevailing view is that that the tenant’s role is to provide a passive income to their landlords…this worldview robs renters of a sense of belonging,” he explains.

Go further

Cowling praises the Renters’ Reform Bill but calls for the government to go further. He says: “Extending the standard length of a contract for up to three years would help prevent people from being forced to regularly move and protect against rents being frequently jacked up.”

He adds: “Government must also look more closely at measures to protect renters against the failure of local councils, particularly in inner London.”

Other suggestions in the report include building an extra 90,000 social homes a year, creating a genuine, reformed Community Right to Buy and encouraging the government to release unused brownfield sites directly to local authorities.

Broken

In the foreword, Housing Minister Michael Gove (pictured) says everyone agrees that the current housing model is broken.

“That change is necessary is undeniable. We are bringing about change – and we are determined to see it through,” adds Gove, who says that while he doesn’t necessarily share the authors’ views on housing, some of which doesn’t reflect government policy, “they make an extremely valuable and timely contribution to the debate”.

Download the pamphlet.

View Full Article: Tory think-tank and Shelter push for three-year tenancies for PRS