Government rebuke unfair treatment of Landlords by Hull

Government rebuke unfair treatment of Landlords by Hull

9:02 AM, 4th July 2019, About 6 years ago 5

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The government has delivered a sharp rebuke to Labour-controlled city council after hearing from the National Landlords Association that it was found to be “unfairly penalising” landlords.

Hull City Council has been taking an aggressive stance against landlords whose tenants report them for an alleged failing in their property, serving them with enforcement notices before they have had the opportunity to address a tenant’s complaint. But after hearing the protests of landlords at a meeting with the National Landlords Association (NLA) and Humber Landlords Association, the Housing Minister Heather Wheeler MP called on Matt Jukes, chief executive of Hull City Council, to “work with these landlords”.

Hull City Council has introduced the Hull Accredited Landlords Scheme, whose members are given an exemption from an immediate council inspection following a report from a tenant. But the NLA told the minister that there is confusion over the entry criteria for the scheme, which is free to join and only requires the landlord to attend a one-day training course on housing health and safety.

In a letter to Mr Jukes, Mrs Wheeler said: “I was extremely concerned to hear reports that many landlords in Hull are not fully aware of, or have misunderstood, the standards they must meet to become a member of the scheme. It is crucial that you work to bring landlords with you and are communicating effectively to do so.”

Gavin Dick, Local Authority Policy Officer at the NLA, said:

“Hull City Council has been unfairly penalising landlords. While it should penalise landlords who don’t provide safe, habitable homes, it isn’t right that good landlords should be punished before having the chance to fix any problems they weren’t previously aware of. The vast majority of landlords want to rectify issues as soon as they arise. Councils must not tarnish all landlords with the same brush.

“It’s unfortunate that we had to take this matter to the minister, but we are encouraged that our collective voices have been heard and Hull City Council now needs to take immediate steps to ensure all landlords in Hull understand the Hull Accredited Landlords Scheme.


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Mick Roberts

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10:55 AM, 4th July 2019, About 6 years ago

Brilliant,

In Nottingham we have an accreditation scheme. The Homeless dept, to give u tenants & deposits/bonds/rent up front etc. wanted u to be accredited. So as it turned out for years, bad landlords had to get accredited, so they could get some tenants from somewhere. Good Landlords could still do it, but it benefited bad landlords, as they couldn't get their own tenants.

Whereas us good Landlords, we don't need to be accredited as me, I had 500 people waiting for me houses & 60 calls every week people wanting my houses cause they know I do the repairs, I leave people alone, I don't sell 'em or chuck 'em out if they doing ote wrong. All through word of mouth from existing tenants.

So there u have it, being accredited is not all what it seems. Ooh u must be good Landlord, u accredited. Quite the opposite in my experience.

I have now had to get accredited to satisfy Nottingham Selective Licensing imbecile scheme http://www.selectivelicensingtruth.co.uk at a cost of £800 every 3 years when I & me tenants have never had a problem before. However now, we do have problems as we have less funds & the tenants has had rent increases to pay for it.
Clever Councils.

Luke P

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11:19 AM, 4th July 2019, About 6 years ago

Upon serving an improvement notice, a charge can be levied for the inspection. This is the primary motivator for going straight to formal notice over allowing time to rectify what may have been otherwise a completely unknown problem to the landlord.

Larry Sweeney

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13:39 PM, 4th July 2019, About 6 years ago

Hull city council are an absolute disgrace. Yet another council abusing their powers. These local authorities are time and again overstepping the mark. Full credit to Luke P and Humber landlords for standing up to the bullies.

Mike D

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5:16 AM, 5th July 2019, About 6 years ago

Fairly typical, autocratic councils, judge n jury, just another way of legally extracting money out of people so they can build a bigger empire and piss it up the wall.

Hamish McBloggs

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10:37 AM, 6th July 2019, About 6 years ago

Barrack room lawyers.
A fellow landlord, after not receiving any rent for many months, served a s8 using a company specialising in such matters.
The next week they received a letter from the LA stating that there was a complaint against them and that an inspection was to take place.
All of the issues were either because the tenant had damaged, removed, introduced or failed to report.
The tenant had constantly denied access for inspections by the landlord citing harassment and filing complaints with the local plod.
After an expensive and protracted eviction the tenant absconded leaving a trail of debt collectors. The process took about 18 months.
It also transpired throughout the eviction process during which the tenant 'worked the system', various activities such as taking goods on approval then pawning them, selling by ebay and failing to send goods, running charitable events and failing to pass on money raised ...
In this Landlord's case the LA eventually sided with the landlord. After the first tranche of 'complaints' the pattern of s8 followed by complaint was noted.
LA's must look at the context and follow process. Failing to do so is a dereliction of duty. How would this have turned out in Hull?
Hamish

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