Last week, the Housing Minister, Brandon Lewis, announced a £5m fund to help local authorities tackle rogue landlords. However, the body that represents councils believes that the funding will not work if the current legal system is not updated.
£5m Rogue Landlord Fund Will Not Work if Legal System is Not Updated
The fund will be split between 48 councils in England. It is aimed at eradicating “the cowboy operators in their area and bring an end to tenants living in miserable homes in the name of profit”. Find out if your council will receive a share here: /5m/
The new fund is part of the proposed Housing and Planning Bill, which also looks to introduce banning orders for persistent rogue landlords and letting agents.
The Local Government Association (LGA) has responded, saying that the system for prosecuting rogue landlords must be modernised.
The spokesperson for the LGA, Peter Box, states: “The private rented sector is growing and, with limited resources and competing funding pressures, councils are working hard to ensure that rogue landlords are dealt with robustly and effectively.
“However, they are too often being hamstrung by an outdated system. It can take more than a year to prosecute a rogue operator and in many cases, paltry fines are handed out to criminal landlords.”
He continues: “Proposals in the Housing and Planning Bill for banning orders for the worst operators in the private rented sector will help councils tackle this issue, as will the flexibility to issue fines to private landlords as an alternative to prosecutions.
“We will be working with the Government to ensure measures in the bill are properly resourced so councils can make full use of them.
“Our chronic housing crisis is making it easier for bad landlords to exploit tenants.”
He adds: “Councils must be given a lead role in building new affordable rented homes so that people who can’t afford to buy are not forced into the more expensive private rented sector.”1
1 http://www.local.gov.uk/media-releases/-/journal_content/56/10180/7657355/NEWS