Countrywide purge on property rogues
Norman Silvester A crackdown on slum landlords who bring misery to tenants has gone nationwide.
Last week, we told how 22 landlords in Glasgow have been banned in the last nine months for renting out sub standard properties worth £5million in the city.
Now councils in Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen have joined the purge on rogue property owners.
In the past 18 months, Edinburgh have reported 16 landlords to the procurator f iscal for alleged criminality in the running of their f lats and breaching housing regulations.
A further 12 have had their licences revoked or applications refused in the past year.
A spokesman for City of Edinburgh Council said: “We take unlawful and unfair behaviour by landlords very seriously, and carry out enforcement based on c ompl a i nt s a nd int e l l i gence and investigate matters where necessary.”
One of the worst previous offenders wa s 4 8 - ye a r - old businessman Mark Fortune.
He was banned from renting out his 70 proper t ies in the capital four years ago and refused entryntry to the landlord register by Edinburgh City Council.
It was the first time Edinburgh refused an application for their register of f it and proper landlords.
Fortune had been convicted off offences related to his property letting business.
In March 2011, he was finedd £1000 for renting out an unlicensedd property and in September thatt year, he was f ined £ 650 forr threatening tenants.
Earlier this year, it was reporteded that Fortune was able to rent outt flatss in the city while an application to goo back on the landlords register iss considered by the council.
The council say Fortune’s application to get back on to the landlords register has not been heard yet.
Dundee City Council say they also have a zero tolerance policy towards landlords and have already banned offenders.
In 2014, Popinder Jassal, 60, was convicted at Dundee Sheriff Court of groping a female tenant in her flat. Jassalsal waswaw given community service, put on thet sex offenders register for 18 months andana banned from the landlords register.
TheTh council said: “There will always be landlordslan who aim to avoid compliance withwi legislation but we take a robust approachapp to those who purposely fail to comply.com Enforcement action can include licenceslic being revoked or refused and wherewh appropriate, referral to the procuratorpro fiscal.
“Landlords have been banned in recent yearsyea for failure to repair defects in time, poorpo tenancy management and at least twotw due to a criminal conviction. These propertiespro were in a poor state of repair.”
AberdeenA City Council are also taking action, with Councillor Philip Bell saying: “We take seriously the matter of unregistered landlords, landlords of unlicensed houses in multiple occupation and landlords who fail to comply with the various housing regulations.
“The council recently revoked a registration for the reason that the landlord breached housing legislation.”
A probe by the Sunday Mail last week found that the 22 rogue landlords were renting out 45 d i f fe r ent properties in Glasgow – with a total value of around £5million.
The majority of the slum properties were in t he Govanhi l l constituency of First M i n i s t e r Ni c o l a Sturgeon.
Glasgow City Council are the first in Scotland to use tough new laws to set up Enhanced Enforcement Areas to target rogues. As part of the crackdown, landlords can also have their flats seized under compulsory purchase orders if they do not agree to sell to the local Govanhill Housing Association.
More than £ 48million has been allocated by the Government to buy up to 500 slum properties in Govanhill and bring them under public ownership.
However, Edinburgh, Dundee and Edinburgh say they have no plans at present to bring in enforcement areas or compulsory purchase.
Action can include licences being revoked or refused