The government is getting tough in its approach to the problem of rogue landlords and letting agents. An official consultation has been launched, which will run until February 10, 2017. Views are being sought on which offences should be considered serious enough to cause a landlord or property agent to be banned from letting or managing rental properties. If a landlord or agent is banned, their name will appear in a national database of offenders.

Consultation on Possible Offences
Possible offences up for inclusion are threatening tenants, illegal evictions, and failing to carry out essential health and safety work, all of which are considered serious. The government’s housing minister hopes the introduction of a banning order will stamp out the problem of rogue landlords and make sure tenants are protected from exploitation.

However, David Cox, managing director of ARLA, is not convinced the proposed banning orders will work in the way the government intends them to do.

“It seems completely illogical that the database of rogue landlords and letting agents will only be accessible to local authorities and DCLG; surely this ultimately defeats the purpose of the legislation? If there is no public access to the database how will landlords or tenants understand if they are using a banned agent and how do agents see if those applying for employment are blacklisted or banned?”

A Holistic Approach
He rightly points out that lists would need to be combined to prevent a people jumping from one profession to another.

Kylie Jenner is famous for many things, not least her lipstick range, glamorous Instagram feed and famous siblings. She may only be 20 years old, but Ms Jenner has a range of business interests. She also owns several properties, but instead of leaving them empty, she has decided to rent one of them out, which makes her a celebrity landlord.

Kylie’s brother, Rob Kardashian, and his girlfriend, Blac Chyna, recently became parents to a baby girl. According to the press, rather than live in Blac’s home, they have decided to rent one of Kylie’s homes in Hidden Hills. The seven bedroom mansion is closer to Rob’s family, so they will have more support while they raise their daughter.

Kylie’s Property Empire
The young Ms Jenner is rapidly turning into something of a property tycoon. She recently bought a second property next to her existing home in an exclusive gated community in Los Angeles, which means she now owns a joint compound. This is fairly unusual, but if she ever wants to extend one of the properties, it will make life a lot easier. Her most recent property acquisition has eight bedrooms, eleven bathrooms, and a massage room.

Celebrity Landlords
Kylie isn’t the only celebrity to recognise the value in letting out exclusive property in desirable areas. American actress, Brooke Shields, rents out her home in the Pacific Palisades and if you fancy living there, it will set you back $35k a month. Richard Gere also lets out his apartment in New York’s NoHo neighbourhood. This will cost you $20k a month.

UK landlords are used to tenants moving cats and dogs into their properties, even when the tenancy agreement says “no pets”. It’s a common problem. Tenants like to share their homes with pets, which is fine until they start to cause damage. Stories of homes where dogs have defecated everywhere and cats have scratched carpets abound, but a Canadian landlord has had a much worse time.

Nightmare Tenants Move In
The landlord formed a good first impression of his new tenants when he leased a three-bedroom rental property in Ontario. Unfortunately, shortly after the tenants moved in, they started introducing livestock into the house. This might have been tolerable, except they failed to clean up the mess. There were reports of a goat, chickens, rabbits, dogs and cats living inside the house, which nobody bothered cleaning up after. They also didn’t bother paying any rent on the property.

Long Eviction Process
It took the landlord seven months to obtain an eviction order to get the couple and their son out of the property. By the time they did move out, the damage was horrendous. Timber floors were soaked in urine and there was mess everywhere. The landlord hired professional cleaners, filled two large skips with rubbish and animal carcasses, and ripped up the floors in an attempt to rectify the damage.

He now says he will only let his rental property out on short-term lets, as this will make it easier to evict problem tenants.

Reddit is a great site for general discussions on random topics. People share their thoughts and experiences on a whole range of things, which often makes for entertaining reading. How it works is simple: one user asks a question and then waits for other users to post their answer in the thread. In this example, a user asked for ‘tenants from hell’ stories. There were more than 500 responses, but some of the best were as follows:

Tenant DIY
One landlord complained that a tenant removed a kitchen island and took it outside to act as an outdoor serving area next to the pool.

Another tenant shoved marbles down a drain because his sink was clogged and he figured the marbles would push the blockage out. It worked in the sense that it pushed the blockage into the drainage system servicing an entire block of flats.

On a similar theme, a different tenant pushed plumber’s putty into the sink and bath drains, and then left the water running. The resultant flood was epic.

Fishy Story
Other horror stories included the guy who cut out holes in the drywall and left fish inside to rot; it took the landlord several weeks to figure out where the stench was coming from. Then there were the tenants who introduced bed bugs into their property.

Arachnophobia!
And finally, the worst ever story (from my perspective) was the tenant who called the landlord out to kill a spider. He refused, but agreed to go to unblock her sink. The spider turned out to be as large as a man’s hand…

Let us know your tenant horror stories in the comments!

Failing to check up on a tenant’s immigration status has become a criminal offence. The new measures will be triggered under the Immigration Act 2016 and are an attempt by the government to crack down on rogue landlords providing accommodation for illegal immigrants.

“We are clear that illegal immigrants should not be able to access or remain in private rented accommodation, preventing lawful residents from finding a home,” says the Immigration Minister, James Brokenshire.

“We know the vast majority of landlords are diligent in their responsibilities when it comes to their tenants and we want to help them to be able to evict illegal immigrants more easily”.

Right to Rent Rolled Out Nationwide
The Right to Rent scheme was first rolled out in 2014 and has since been extended to the rest of England. By the end of next year, the government hopes to implement the Right to Rent scheme in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Civil Penalties and Criminal Prosecutions for Rogue Landlords
Landlords and letting agents who flaunt the scheme will be liable for a civil penalty of up to £3,000. Landlords who repeatedly ignore the requirements of the scheme face being prosecuted and sent to prison for up to five years. They could also have their accounts frozen under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

On the plus side, landlords who discover they are housing illegal immigrants will have greater powers to evict their tenants quickly once they report them to the Home Office.

Fraudsters are becoming increasingly active in the online rental market, so tenants – and genuine landlords – need to make sure they are not taken in by scams.

Many tenants look online when they need a new place to rent. It’s the obvious choice for today’s internet savvy generation. A woman in Exeter thought she had found the perfect flat when she placed an ad on Gumtree. Sadly, it turned out to be anything but the perfect flat.

Fraudsters Target Free Advertising Platforms
Fed up with living in supported accommodation, the tenant advertised for a flat suitable for tenants on benefits. A woman got in touch offering a one-bed flat, but when the tenant asked to go and view the place, the landlord said she couldn’t take the time off work after being messed around by previous time-wasters. Her story seemed genuine and the tenant was sent a deposit guarantee letter and a signed tenancy agreement. This was enough to persuade her to transfer a £500 deposit to the landlord’s account, which disappeared without trace, just like the bogus landlord.

Stolen Property Listings
This story is not uncommon and fraudsters typically use listings stolen from genuine property ads, with a few key details changed to suit the ad. Sites like Gumtree do provide plenty of resources to alert people looking for rental property, but scammers continue to run amok.

The RLA believes not enough is being done to protect tenants.

“It’s the duty of websites where properties are advertised to show some due diligence in establishing that a property is valid.”

Landlords have lost their legal bid to force a judicial review of the government’s plans to cut tax relief for landlords.

The new changes come into effect next year when tax relief on mortgage interest is gradually reduced to a flat rate of 20%. This, as well as an extra 3% stamp duty in buy to let property purchases, has been described as “unfair, undemocratic and underhanded” by landlords.

Cherie Blair’s Legal Challenge
A campaign group, championed by Cherie Blair, decided to launch a legal challenge, but Timothy Brennan QC said the claim was “unarguable” and that the case was not in the public interest. Mr Justice Dingemans refused to allow a judicial review to go ahead on the basis that “It would be a miserable spectacle to watch a case that is bound to fail.”

Axe the Tenant Tax Group
Steve Bolton and Chris Cooper, founding members of the Axe the Tenant Tax group, were not happy with the court’s decision.

“It has completely missed the opportunity to protect tenants, landlords and the housing market from the disastrous consequences of Section 24,” they said after the verdict.

NLA Verdict
Richard Lambert, CEO of the National Landlords Association, added:

“This decision is ultimately disappointing not just for landlords, but for the tenants who will see their rents rise as a consequence of the changes to landlord taxation.”

Although he conceded that: “While we have never been convinced that there was a solid enough legal case to overturn George Osborne’s decision, we hoped the courts would be prepared at least to listen to the arguments.”

Wandsworth Council has rejected plans to introduce a controversial landlord licensing scheme, much to the delight of the Residential Landlords Association, who were vehemently opposed.

Fewer Complaints about the PRS
The council says there has been a notable reduction in complaints about homes in the private rental sector and most tenants are more than happy with the service received from landlords. As a result, they cannot justify the introduction of a landlord licensing scheme. Instead, they have come up with a ten-point plan to deal with the issue of rogue landlords. These plans will make use of existing legislation designed to help regulate the private rental sector.

Council Action List
Wandsworth Council’s ‘Action list’ includes prioritising housing enforcement in the areas where there are the highest number of issues, refocussing resources on high priority complaints, and setting up targeted action days in the borough.

The RLA is pleased to see the council looking at alternative ways to tackle problems within the private rental sector.

“It is really good to see a council considering a range of options around landlord regulation rather than defaulting to licensing,” says David Smith from the RLA.

“The Housing Act 2004 offers a range of flexible powers to Councils and this range will shortly be widened with changes in the Housing and Planning Act. Local Housing Authorities should take a risk-based approach and focus their powers on directly addressing the real problems in the Private Rented Sector. It is good to see that Wandsworth has done this.”

Even celebrity tenants can’t escape the wrath of an angry landlord. Kylie Jenner’s famous on/off rapper boyfriend is facing a spell in jail when he returns from his idyllic break in the Turks & Caicos Islands, where he and Kylie are celebrating the youngest Jenner sister’s 19th birthday.

Malibu Rental Trashed
Tyga’s rental woes date back to 2011, when he was accused of trashing a rental property in Malibu. The landlord claims Tyga installed a stripper pole in the master bedroom (without permission), disconnected the property’s security system, and caused damage to hardwood flooring and a shower. He says he is owed $480k in damages as a result.

Tyga Misses his Day in Court
The rapper was served with a lawsuit in July after he failed to pay the landlord for the damages caused. He was due to appear in court, but he left the country instead. The landlord’s lawyer, Boris Treyzon, spoke to People Magazine:

“Tuesday was Tyga’s day to appear in court, and he didn’t show up. We requested the court to issue a bench warrant. The court agreed with us that Tyga’s actions have been not what society demands of him, so they issued a bench warrant. Now, if he comes in contact with law enforcement, they will likely detain him and keep him detained until he posts bond.”

Tyga gifted Kylie Jenner a Mercedes Maybach, which breaches the terms of the lawsuit, so the car is likely to be claimed back upon his return to the U.S., which could prove to be embarrassing.

Landlords are increasingly using popular short term letting website Airbnb to advertise their properties as short-term holiday lets – thus avoiding their legal responsibilities. Research carried out by the Residential Landlords Association found that 61% of London property lets were for 90 days or more. These landlords are falling foul of the law as short-term lets can be no longer than 90 days per calendar year.

Airbnb No Longer Used as a Casual Letting Website
41% of landlords on Airbnb had multiple property listings, which indicates the website is maturing from a casual letting portal into a more commercialised venture used by professional landlords.

Landlords and Tenants Abuse System
As a result, the RLA fears many tenants renting properties advertised via Airbnb are not being protected. There is also a concern that tenants are using the website to sub-let properties without permission from their landlord.

“London more than anywhere else in the country is in desperate need of more homes to rent and to buy,” says David Smith, Policy Director at the RLA.

“Given the pressures faced in the capital it is important that properties advertised as being available for more than 90 days a year are genuine holiday lets with appropriate planning permission. Otherwise, as well as taking rental stock off the market for those looking for somewhere to live, they are also putting tenants in a vulnerable position without all the protections offered by a tenancy agreement.”

The RLA is calling on the government to improve the policing of such sites to ensure they are not being abused.