£100,000 for a bad property MOT!

From own experience of the HMO rental sector is already heavily regulated, however there is a serious lack of enforcement so rentals owned by the bad/rouge landlords just don’t get sorted, so tenants see no improvements should they be unfortunate enough to rent one.

Decent landlords will eventually exit the market as trying to jump through more badly thought out and implemented legislation will sadly be just too difficult to achieve. Or feel they no longer want to be political pawns and blamed heavily for the housing crisis.

Should labour get into power I sinserly hope they get on with building some social housing quickly, otherwise fear the crisis is only going to get a lot worse!

Reply to the comment left by paul robinson at 26/11/2019 - 10:37
They haven't realised that there is a major shortage of skilled labour, bricks etc. so it's unlikely that anywhere near enough will get built, but even if there was it still wouldn't happen especially with net immigration at something like 259,000 per annum and more if Labour get in, they all need somewhere to live. Cloud Cuckoo land.

It is clear that some properties are not of the standard that should be provided, and Labour clearly acknowledges that some landlords do provide good housing. But yet again, they completely miss the real issue which is one of compliance. There are rules in place already and dodgy landlords getting away with flouting them. Charging good landlords a fee for a property MOT will not resolve the issues that exist. They need to invest in compliance of the current rules first, but they wont of course because thats not a vote winner.

Write to them NOW! Many politicians live on a different 'planet' as they've no financial worries in the 'real' world. I'm off to cause a little more 'pollution' when I sell up and emigrate to Spain whilst soaking up some nice juicy benefits - lovely! I can guess who's the homeless 'won't' be knocking on!

Who is going to carry out the annual “MOT” and where do the personnel come from to do it ? What’s the point of building more local authority housing when it gets lost, by being sold off (with crazy discounts) under RTB ? Madness total utter madness !!

Reply to the comment left by Dennis Leverett at 26/11/2019 - 10:25I couldn't agree more, Dennis.
We are getting to or already are at the stage where additional anti-landlord legislation actually benefits the rogues. It gives them a competitive advantage.
How so? Increasing bureaucracy and setting traps in the Tenant Fees Act as well as the general anti-landlord tone of public discourse is driving law-abiding landlords out of the market and reducing the supply for desperate tenants.
Taxing landlords on non-existent profits reduces what they have available to maintain their properties. Adding extra costs means many landlords will put up the rents to try to claw back lost money. Abolishing s21 will make landlords more choosy about tenants. The tenants who "don't look good on paper" will find they are driven towards the lower end of the market as landlords with good properties turn them away.
That means the rogues (who don't care if they are in breach of 5, 25 or 50 rules) see increased demand for their substandard properties and increased rents.
Sadly, it's a perfect example of the law of unintended consequences.

Also in the Labour manifesto, any discrimination against 'Right to Rent' and 'Housing Benefit ' tenants is to be sorted!

Reply to the comment left by Lee Bailey at 26/11/2019 - 10:25
The Great has gone out of Great Britain. It will become Poor Britain. Time to sell up and move to a different country. I don't trust any of them to look after workers, business, LL or tenants.

I thought that penalties had to be proportionate?

I have a property leased to a London Local Housing Authority who state all repairs must be reported direct to them & we were not to arrange access direct with the tenant or carry out regular inspections as they would do these. We ignored these rules & still carried out regular inspections on the QT. During one visit we found 1) the tenants had somehow managed to crack the plastic bath panel which left jagged edges their kids could hurt themselves on 2) the door handle to the lounge was badly sticking making it very difficult to open & therefore a serious hazard in the event of a fire 3) the tenants heating bill was extortionately high as they seemed to be on the wrong tariff. We immediately asked our tenants to report these 2 issues (as we were not meant to have gained access without LHA permission) & as their English was poor, told them to ask the LHA to help them communicate with their energy provider about going on the right tariff. We waited to hear from the LHA with instruction to carry out the repairs but heard nothing even after we told the tenants to repeatedly report these. The tenants also told us the LHA had told them their heating bills were not their responsibility. We gave up & in the end just sent in our own contractor (without permission from the LHA) to replace the bath panel & lounge door handle & with the tenants' permission spoke to EDF on their behalf & successfully switched their tariff & we put a new 80 mm thick jacket on the hot water cylinder to further help with bills. We then told the LHA what we had done & formally complained. They eventually replied saying the issues had not been reported by the tenants (an utter lie) nor had they seen the damages on recent visits for if they had they would have taken action (again utter lies as our tenants said the LHA rarely visited & hadn't been for ages). The only thing the LHA were honest about was refusing to help tenants with energy bills even if they did not speak good English & struggled speaking with suppliers. We still deal with the tenants direct, visit regularly & carry out necessary repairs but as far as the LHA are concerned, we're never there & they're in charge!!!