Landlords to challenge ‘unfair charges’

LANDLORDS IN Hull will challenge a council in court over plans to make them pay “unfair charges” for repairs to 30,000 private rental homes in the city.

The Humber Landlords Association (HLA) says a new enforcement policy could cost landlords up to £500 in cases where tenants report repairs directly to Hull Council.

Chairman of the HLA Danny Gough said Hull Council was going against clear Government guidance by abandoning informal action, even in the case of minor defects.

He said an example could be a tenant being unable to contact a landlord who was on holiday and then ringing the council about a radiator that did not work. The council could then charge the landlord, he said, up to £500 for a notice and officer visits.

Mr Gough said: “Government enforcement guidance is to deal with landlords informally first and only take formal action if they find a very significant hazard or the landlord is a persistent offender. What they are looking at is making every landlord guilty until they prove they are innocent.”

A Judge at the High Court in Leeds will review the lawfulness of the decision on February 12.

Mr Gough said Hull Council argued that it was to protect tenants who asked for a repair from retaliation in the form of eviction.

But he said the council had not produced any evidence to show there was a problem in Hull and it already had sufficient powers to deal with the “tiny rogue element” among landlords.

He suggested the council should “gets its own house in order” and deal with the poor conditions reported on social media and elsewhere by council tenants. Hull Council declined to comment while the matter is subject to legal proceedings