Landlord drives a Porsche but tenants have to put up with this
Shocking condition of homes paid for by housing benefit
firms, claimed her rented flat was damp, mouldy and had a broken cooker. She said: “It was the worst experience of my life.” David Cox of the Association of Residential Letting Agents said Singla’s firms were “not taking their legal requirements seriously in the slightest”. Experts want a major rethink of the rental market, with MoTstyle tests of homes. The Government has also unveiled a national database of landlords convicted of breaking rules.
Official figures show 28 per cent of rented homes fail to meet the standard of “decent” housing.
FRIGHTENED
But Citizens Advice says a quarter of tenants are too frightened to tell landlords about problems and almost half pay for repairs out of their own pocket.
And housing charity Shelter says more than 200,000 tenants are evicted for complaining every year. Labour MP Karen Buck, who has spearheaded a new law giving tenants more rights, said: “The number of families and children living in squalid accommodation has increased. But councils are really struggling to carry out their enforcement duties because of cuts.”
Last night Singla said: “I have never been prosecuted. You have chosen a few examples from a wide variety and large number of properties we manage, knowing that there are clear issues with them, and made a one-sided story.”