Clampdown on rogue landlords
HALTON’S 30 property house shares are to be subject to stricter rules as part of a Government overhaul aimed at cracking down on ‘rogue landlords’.
The Government said a boom in houses of multiple occupation ( HMO) has led to vulnerable tenants being ‘exploited’ at the hands of ‘opportunist’ owners.
A Department For Communities And Local Government (DCLG) report on the matter said DCLG wants to support good private landlords but deal with those who fall short of acceptable standards.
Ten years on from mandatory licensing being introduced, there are now an estimated 500,000 HMOs across the country.
During its consultation on its latest plans to tighten the rules, DCLG said it received 395 responses including from local authorities, landlords and landlord organisations, letting agents, residents and resident groups, tenant and tenant organisations and public and professional bodies.
The rules to be introduced are:
Room sizes will now be subject to a mandatory minimum and councils must specify which rooms are suitable for sleeping and for how many adults and children.
In addition, where rooms are found to be too small, local authorities will be required to provide ● a grace period to allow landlords to remedy the situation.
The minimum size for single bedroom for one adult has been set at 6.51 square metres (sq m), equivalent to 70 square feet, and for doubles the minimum is 10.22sq m.
Council powers to check criminal records of landlords are to be ‘strengthened’ rather than become mandatory although this policy is to be kept under review.
Licensed HMOs in Runcorn and Widnes will now be required to comply with Halton Council’s refuse and storage and disposal arrangements, the DCLG said.
The fourth rule is to provide discounts for licences purchased in relation to student accommodation.
According to latest local authority housing stock data, for 2015-16, Halton has 30 HMOs.
In late 2016 the Weekly News published figures obtained under the Freedom Of Information Act that said there were about 159 bedrooms in HMOs across the borough, with an average of about five per dwelling.
The DCLG said rogue landlords can be respon- sible for a raft of failings.
The report said: “Typical poor practices include: overcrowding, poor management of tenant behaviour, failure to meet the required health and safety standards, housing of illegal migrants and intimidation of tenants when legitimate complaints are made.
“Tenants are sometimes exploited and local communities blighted through, for example, rubbish not being properly stored, excessive noise or anti-social behaviour.
“Although only a minority of landlords the impacts of their practices are disproportionate, putting safety and welfare of tenants at risk and adversely affecting local communities.
“They cause much reputational harm to the HMO market and it is often pot luck whether a vulnerable tenant ends up renting from a rogue or a good landlord.”
Alok Sharma, housing minister, said: “Every tenant has a right to a safe, secure and decent home.
“But far too many are being exploited by unscrupulous landlords who profit from providing overcrowded, squalid and sometimes dangerous homes.
“Enough is enough and so I’m putting these rogue landlords on notice - shape up or ship out of the rental business.
“Through a raft of new powers we are giving councils the further tools they need to crack down these rogue landlords and kick them out of the business for good.”