Landlords fail to win judicial review of ‘impractical’ out of hours decision in Northern Ireland

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Private landlords in Belfast are frustrated that they have been prevented from launching a further legal challenge against being put on call around the clock.

The High Court ruled this week that they must provide an emergency out-of-hours contact number for dealing with anti-social behaviour – and has dismissed an application for a judicial review, The Irish News reports.

A judge rejected claims by the Landlords Association for Northern Ireland (LANI) that they have been unreasonably burdened by the new licence condition introduced as part of efforts to tackle nuisance residents in HMOs.

The judge was referring to ongoing problems with antisocial behaviour in the city, in particular near student HMOs where late-night street parties in the Holyland area of the city are common.

LANI argued that this put landlords on call “24/7, 365 days a year” and claimed it was an impracticable obligation for members with up to 100 tenants on their books.

Middle of the night

It said landlords contacted in the middle of the night would be able to do nothing more than could be achieved during office hours. Failure to comply could lead to prosecution or being taken off the HMO licence register.

However, Mr Justice Scoffield said there was no expectation of action being taken in the middle of the night to terminate leases or serve notices to quit, instead, the council was seeking to leverage any available influence over nuisance residents.

He added: “A landlord, or agent who manages the property, may have an ongoing and/or personal relationship with the tenants (and/or, in the case of student tenants, their parents) which might make the tenants more amenable to persuasion to moderate their behaviour at the landlord or agent’s behest.”

He said that in some cases, a landlord’s intervention might be effective when engagement with council or police officers was not.

Justice Scoffield added: “There may be less of an element of bravado involved in dealing with the landlord than there may be dealing with police or council officers, for a variety of reasons.”

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