Inquiry into whether councils have adequate powers to tackle ‘rogue landlords’

Inquiry into whether councils have adequate powers to tackle ‘rogue landlords’

8:51 AM, 13th October 2017, About 7 years ago 12

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The Communities and Local Government Committee has this week launched an inquiry into whether councils have adequate powers to tackle ‘rogue landlords’.

The brief of the inquiry into the Private Rental Sector (PRS) is detailed the committee below:

  • To examine the role of local authorities in the PRS focusing on the provision by councils of private rented accommodation and whether they have sufficient powers to deal with bad practices.
  • Consider barriers to intervention in the private rented sector, whether landlord licensing schemes are promoting higher quality accommodation and the effectiveness of complaint mechanism for tenants.

Chair of the Communities and Local Government Committee, Clive Betts MP, said: “With a big rise in the number of people renting over the last decade, there are real concerns about the ability of local authorities to protect tenants by tackling bad landlords and practices.

“Our inquiry will examine how local authorities can carry out enforcement work to deal with rogue landlords as well as looking at approaches used by councils to provide private rented accommodation in their areas.”

If you would like to contribute to the inquiry:

Submitting written evidence

The Committee is inviting written evidence in relation to the points below:

  • Do local authorities have the powers and capacity required to enforce standards in the private rented sector and deal with ‘rogue landlords’?
  • What are the main obstacles to effective intervention in the private rented sector?
  • How effective are landlord licensing schemes in promoting higher quality accommodation?
  • What approaches have local authorities taken to promote affordable private rented sector accommodation in their areas?
  • How effective are complaint mechanisms for tenants in the private rented sector?

The closing date for submissions is Friday 24 November 2017 at midday.

Further information

Click Here to see the full Commons Select Committee page for further information.


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Comments

Marie

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21:23 PM, 19th October 2017, About 7 years ago

What nobody seems to get is that there is choice in the PRS. Why would tenants rent a rundown property when there are lots of other properties they can choose instead? Unless of course it is substantially cheaper, but then you get what you pay for.
i would like the councils to deal with their own problems of giving people council housing who are not eligible for it by doing no checks on them whatsoever and dealing with the subletting scam that is costing the taxpayer millions. Why not make council rents the same as private sector rents and then subsidise it with housing benefit according to what the tenant is earning (or not). And what about checking every year to make sure the tenants actually still need subsidised housing especially with the long waiting lists everywhere.
It is no good going after private landlords when you cannot manage your own affairs.
I suggest a list of rogue tenants is long overdue, which should include anyone that has been evicted and reasons stated.

John walker

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11:24 AM, 22nd October 2017, About 7 years ago

By all means allow LAs more powers, as long as they will be applied to ALL LLs,
both private and public (LA, HAs) and all have to comply with all regulations equally. If that were the case we may well find they might not be quite so keen. Of course this would also apply to accommodation provided by the government itself, eg. married quarters for armed forces personnel etc.

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