‘Seize assets of criminal landlords’

COUNCILS SHOULD be given powers to seize the properties of “criminal” landlords whose accommodation fails to meet proper legal standards, MPs have said.

The Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee said a “significant minority” of private rented properties in England were “shockingly inadequate”.

Existing civil penalties were too weak to deter landlords who were prepared to commit the most serious offences while fines issued by the courts were often insufficient to make prosecutions worthwhile, it said.

The report called for local authorities to be given the power to levy the sort fines which might “stand a chance of breaking the business models” on the worst offenders. In the case of the “most egregious offences”, where landlords relied on exploiting vulnerable tenants, it said councils should be able to confiscate their properties.

The committee also said greater protection was needed for tenants who were often unwilling to complain about problems such as excess cold, mould or faulty wiring because they feared “retaliatory” action by their landlord.

Committee chairman and Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts said: “The imbalance in power in the private rented sector means vulnerable tenants often lack protection from unscrupulous landlords who can threaten them with retaliatory rent rises and eviction if they complain about unacceptable conditions in their homes.”