Government Proposals To Ban Criminal Landlords & Agents

The Government is considering new legislation to enable bans to be imposed on criminal landlords and agents preventing them from operating in the private rented sector.

In principle this is an excellent idea because nobody wants criminals operating in our sector. They are few and far between but they tarnish our reputation. Helping tenants to identify and avoid the true rogues can only be a good thing.

However, we have some concerns. 

The consultation paper appears to be extremely one sided at this point.

Will the legislation be fully thought through and will there be a quid pro quo to enable good landlords to identify bad tenants, for example, a database of rogue tenants who have been subject to eviction orders under section 8 or have had to be forcibly removed by bailiffs after failing to comply with an eviction order?

Below are some of the issues which concern us in respect of some of the reasons being considered for bans.

1. Renting out a property to an illegal immigrant. Landlords already face criminal prosecution for this, even they we have done it unwittingly. That was already overkill; to now ban us for 12 months because border control failed to do its job properly is outrageous and can only stem from the anti-landlord attitude of the Government (a recent survey found 92% of landlords believe the Government is anti-landlord).

2. Threatening violence against tenants. Any ban would have to follow a criminal conviction by Jury to be fair.

3. Cannabis farms. Sadly this is a problem for landlords. Whilst some criminal operators will allow cannabis farming, for most landlords it is an absolute disaster. If a landlord who had been targeted by a cannabis farmer was banned from letting without having been convincted as been complicit to the crime this would cause major concern .

4. Theft or criminal damage: it is bizarre that the Government should include this as something which landlords would do to tenants. Landlords have their properties trashed and items stolen when rogue tenants vacate and landlords face bills of billions of pounds putting these right and also face massive losses because of unpaid rent. The Government has got this completely the wrong way around. The police often tell landlords that criminal damage by tenants is a civil matter and we therefore face no recourse to justice. This is the issue the Government should be tackling.

The RLA summarised the key points in the consultation paper as follows:-

Relevant housing offences

• Failure to comply with an Improvement Notice (section 30);
• Offences in relation to licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) (section 72);
• Offences in relation to licensing of houses under Part 3 of the Act (section 95);
• Allowing a HMO that is not subject to licensing to become overcrowded (section 139);
• Failure to comply with management regulations in respect of HMOs (section 234).

An offence under section 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998;

Failure to comply with a Prohibition or Emergency Prohibition Order under sections 20, 21 and 43 of the Housing Act 2004;

An offence under section 32 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 provided it relates to a property that is being rented out or managed by a landlord or property agent.

Immigration offences

Any offence, whether committed by an individual or a body corporate, for which they have been sentenced in the Crown Court (regardless of whether they were originally convicted in the Crown Court or Magistrates Court) involving:

• fraud under the Fraud Act 2006;
• the production, possession or supply of all classes of illegal drugs (including poisons) and/or managing premises where drug dealing and/or production takes place; or
• any offence under Schedule 15 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (specified violent and sexual offences).

The offence must have been committed:

• at any residential premises in England, or in the local area9 of those premises; or
• in relation to such residential premises.

In either case, the offender, or a person associated with him, must have owned or been involved in the management of the residential premises concerned at the time the offence was committed;

In addition, neither the offender nor the associated person must occupy the residential premises as their main residence and the offence must relate to the occupier of the residential premises.

Serious criminal offences

Any offence, whether committed by an individual or a body corporate, for which they have been sentenced in the Crown Court (regardless of whether they were originally convicted in the Crown Court or Magistrates Court) involving:

• fraud under the Fraud Act 2006;
• the production, possession or supply of all classes of illegal drugs (including poisons) and/or managing premises where drug dealing and/or production takes place; or
• any offence under Schedule 15 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (specified violent and sexual offences).

The offence must have been committed:

• at any residential premises in England, or in the local area9 of those premises; or
• in relation to such residential premises.

In either case, the offender, or a person associated with him, must have owned or been involved in the management of the residential premises concerned at the time the offence was committed;

In addition, neither the offender nor the associated person must occupy the residential premises as their main residence and the offence must relate to the occupier of the residential premises.

Other criminal offences

Any offence, whether committed by an individual or a body corporate, for which the offender has been sentenced in the Crown Court (regardless of whether they were originally convicted in the Crown Court or Magistrates Court).

The offence must have been committed against, or in conjunction with, any person who was residing at the property owned by the offender, other than a person associated with the offender.

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