Many local authorities are used to dealing with rogue landlords, but housing officers from Barnet Council were horrified when they discovered the awful conditions a group of tenants were being forced to live in. The property was brought to the attention of Barnet housing officials after a concerned neighbour complained about conditions in and around the house.

Horrific Living Conditions

Environmental officers visited the HMO and discovered a whole catalogue of woes. The kitchen ceiling in the property had fallen in and the walls in the shower room were not fit for purpose. The shower attachment was also being used to wash crockery. An old mattress covered an open manhole outside and there were piles of rubbish strewn everywhere. There were also defective smoke alarms in the house. All in all, the property was in a terrible state, which can’t have been much fun for the six adults, four children and a 9 month old baby who were living there at the time.

Landlord Fined

The manager of the property was summoned to appear in court to face various charges and although he didn’t bother showing up he was fined £17k in his absence. The property development company who owned the property was also fined £16k for converting the house into bedsits without appropriate planning permissions in place.
Warning to Rogue Landlords

Barnet Council has now issued a warning to other landlords operating in their borough:

“Barnet Council will not hesitate to take the appropriate action to ensure that poor landlords do not evade their responsibilities and put tenants at risk.”

Newham Council in East London started the trend and now Liverpool Council is
set to follow. As of Friday 22nd November, the council has begun a
consultation process that will last twelve weeks. If the licensing scheme goes
ahead (and it is likely that it will go ahead), at some point after the
beginning of April 2014, all rental homes in Liverpool will need a compulsory
licence.

Stamping Out Rogue Landlords

The council is justifying the introduction of a compulsory blanket license
scheme by stating that the scheme will help to eradicate the problem of poorly
managed properties in the city. Although they admit that the vast majority of
landlords in Liverpool manage their properties extremely well, there are a
small minority who fail to deal with anti-social behaviour such as noise and
rubbish strewn gardens.

Ann O’Byrne, who is the Liverpool council’s cabinet minister for housing, was
quoted as saying: “It’s vital that we do all we can to work with landlords
across Liverpool to drive up the quality of our private rented properties.”
Building Positive Landlord Relationships

The council hopes to improve buy to let in the city and develop a “good
quality private rented sector which tenants can be confident in…” And through
the introduction of a licensing scheme, they hope to build good working
relationships with local landlords in the city.

Cost of Landlord Licensing

Although the council has yet to say how much they intend on charging buy to
let landlords, it is likely that the fees will be similar to those charged by
Newham Council–£500 for a single 5-year license and four times that for an
HMO license.

The government is trying to clean up the rental sector by introducing a
Consumer Protection Charter for letting agents. The rental sector has been
blighted in recent years by reports of rogue letting agents. Tales of stupidly
high fees abound and many agents have ended up in court after defrauding their
clients. Some have even gone bust overnight, taking client money with them.
Because of this the government has been reviewing how best to offer a greater
level of protection to landlords and tenants. They have come up with a
Consumer Protection Charter and all letting agents will be forced to join the
scheme.

What are the Key Points of the Consumer Protection Charter?

• Independent investigation of complaints – Previously, clients had few
avenues for redress if things went wrong.

• Compensation scheme for clients – This will give landlords peace of
mind in the event that a letting agent goes bust.

• Secure money protection scheme – There have been a few cases where
letting agents spent their clients’ money after cash flow dried up.

• Voluntary Code of Practise – Letting agents will have to be open about
the properties on their books, which means telling tenants if critical jobs
need doing.

• Transparent fee structure – There should be no hidden fees cloaked
within the small print and letting agents must be upfront about what their
costs include.

Compulsory Requirement

The government hopes to have all schemes approved by the end of January 2014,
although it will be a while longer before it becomes compulsory for letting
agents to join.

Following the success of selective licensing in neighbouring Newham, Waltham Forest Council in London has decided to roll out a selective licensing scheme for homes in the private rental sector. The borough will be consulting with landlords, tenants and local businesses until 24th January 2014. If the scheme goes ahead, around 33k homes could be affected.

Improving the Private Rented Sector
Waltham Forest Council is hoping that the introduction of a selective licensing scheme will improve standards on the private rented sector. They want to reduce levels of anti-social behaviour and enviro-crime, which includes littering and leaving mess in gardens. The council is also keen to cut down on the number of tenants who antagonise their neighbours by playing loud music or use their homes for illegal activities such as drug dealing.

According to a council spokesperson, “We also want to use licensing to drive up management standards generally for all private rented properties in the borough as our studies have shown that many tenants renting in the private sector are having to endure some of the worst housing conditions in the borough, such as serious overcrowding and living in unfit homes.”

How Much Will the License Fee Cost?
Landlords will be expected to pay £500 for a five-year licence. However, the council won’t be making a penny from the scheme. Instead all monies earned will be used to help administer the scheme.

It is likely that other councils will be keeping a close eye on what happens in Waltham Forest, and if the scheme goes ahead and is deemed to be a success, other councils may decide to follow suit.

According to the BBC, landlords in Wales will shortly have to contend with the intricacies of a Housing Bill, which will be the first one published by the Welsh Government. The government first released a White Paper in 2012, a document setting out exactly what it planned to include in its bill.

Key Proposals in Welsh Housing Bill
Key elements of the new Housing Bill likely to include:

• Landlord register – The government plans to make all landlords sign a mandatory landlord register before they are allowed tenants in their properties.

• Increased Council Tax on empty properties – Local authorities will be given the power to impose a higher level of Council Tax on any properties empty for more than one year.

Tackling Homelessness and Rogue Landlords
The government hopes that the new Housing Bill will tackle the problem of empty houses, of which there are many. In turn this should go some way towards resolving the issue of family homelessness in Wales. The government also wants to reduce the numbers of rogue landlords operating in Wales—these people will be targeted under the new legislation. According to the White Paper published last year, landlords will be forced to sign a landlord register, which should help to cut down the number of vulnerable tenants being ripped off by unscrupulous sharks in the private housing sector.

Whether or not the new Welsh Housing Bill proves to be successful remains to be seen. Only time will tell, but the Government has been vocal about its determination to provide homes for all families by the end of the decade and it is believed that this will be included in the bill.

A tragic incident in Derby has underlined how important it is that landlords
undertake regular checks of any appliances installed in rental properties.
Toxic fumes leaked from a faulty gas boiler in a buy to let property, killing
one tenant and leaving two other people seriously ill from carbon monoxide
poisoning.

Condemned Boiler
The court heard that the boiler installed in the buy to let property had not
been serviced for four years. In fact a gas engineer, who had been to the
property to install a new gas meter, had previously condemned the boiler.
Unfortunately, although the utility company had written to the landlord, the
tenant had not passed on the letter and had decided to reconnect the boiler
because there was no other form of heating.

The landlord was given a 16-month prison sentence, which was suspended for two
years, plus 200 hours of unpaid community service. She was also fined £4,000
and ordered to pay costs of £17,500.

Court Finds Landlord at Fault
The court heard that the landlord had failed in her statutory duty and had not
had the gas appliances in the property checked every year to ensure they were
safe, as she should have done. It was only by sheer good luck that a friend of
the tenant came to visit the property and summoned help, otherwise there could
have been a triple fatality.

Landlord’s Responsibility
Landlords are obliged by law to have gas fixtures and fittings safety checked
and serviced at least once per year. A qualified Gas Safe engineer should
carry out the work.

In the wake of three recent court judgements in the UK, the NLA believes that
some local authorities may have overcharged HMO landlords. As a result, the
NLA has written to all local authorities to warn them that they must contact
any landlords affected and let them know that they could be entitled to
refunds.

Important Court Judgements
The three judgements cited by the NLA are:

• Crompton v Oxford City Council – Oxford Council tried to charge a fee
for a variation in a HMO licence, but the court ruled this was unlawful.

• Hemming v Westminster City Council – The court ruled that councils are
not allowed to use licence fees as an excuse to make extra profits and that
licence fees must be transparent and open to scrutiny.

• Bristol City Council v Digs (Bristol) Ltd – Bristol Council tried to
force a landlord of a privately owned two storey maisonette to obtain an HMO
licence, but the court ruled that the lower (third) storey (which only
contained a hallway and entrance corridor) did not count and therefore the
property was not an HMO.

NLA Comments
Licence fees are a contentious issue. There is a risk that local authorities
are making it unnecessarily difficult for landlords by introducing licensing,
although the councils say that by doing so they are helping to regulate the
sector. This could be discouraging new landlords from entering the sector,
which is bad news for tenants in overstretched areas. Many also believe that
local authorities are using license fees as an excuse to profiteer.

Are you an HMO landlord? Do you think you have been unfairly charged? If so,
let us know.

One of the biggest social landlords in the private sector has voiced his
concerns to the BBC about the roll out of the new Universal Credit payments to
tenants. The combined benefit payment has been introduced as part of
government reforms to the whole benefits system. At the moment claimants
receive up to six separate benefits payments, including Housing Benefit, but
once the change over has been completed, these separate payments will be
merged into one. The changeover has already begun in a few areas.

Self-Made Social Entrepreneur
Kevin Green owns more than 700 homes in the private sector and approximately
60% of them are let to tenants claiming benefits. Mr Green is fearful that
tenants will soon fall behind on paying their rent once Universal Credit kicks
in. He thinks many tenants will find it hard to budget their money and benefit
payments normally earmarked for the rent could end up being swallowed up by
other expenses.

Tenants Lack Budgeting Skills
At least one trial run of the new system seems to indicate that this is
exactly what will happen once Universal Credit becomes standard practice.
Figures showed that tenants living in social housing in Torfaen definitely had
a problem managing their money once their benefits were streamlined into one
single payment. Rent arrears shot up from £20k to £140k over seven months. Mr
Green makes the point that he may be forced to pull out of the social housing
sector if he ends up dealing with major rent arrears, which could lead to a
shortage of homes.

Are you a social landlord? Are you worried about the introduction of the new
Universal Credit payments? If so, let us know in the comments.

Benefit fraud is a very common problem and one that regularly hits the
headlines most days. There are hundreds of people out there who think its OK
to claim benefits whilst enjoying a secret income, but in the case of one
dishonest landlord, benefit fraud investigators eventually discovered his
secret stash of cash and buy to let property.

Landlord Benefit Fraud
A landlord in Manchester was recently convicted of fraudulently claiming
around £32k in benefits, despite having made nearly £60k when he sold a
property. He managed to get around the problem of too much cash in the bank by
squirreling away his profits in a friend’s bank account. He was also found to
be the owner of a buy to let home worth around £47k. He has now been ordered
to sell the rental home and use the money to repay some of his debts.

Landlord Fire Safety Fines
In another case before the courts, a landlord in London has been ordered to
pay a total of £24,250 in fines and costs for failing to ensure his HMOs meet
fire safety standards. He had also not bothered securing any HMO licenses for
his properties and Welwyn Council was quick to prosecute. They are clearly on
a roll because this case was the council’s third success in the last six
months, so landlords in North London better pull up their socks and make sure
their properties are legal.

Most reputable landlords never need to worry about court appearances because
they do everything by the book, but if you are a dodgy landlord, remember:
crime never pays!

Every year, the water companies are faced with the problem of unpaid water bills. Since someone has to cover the bill, the end result is that the paying households in the UK are charged an extra £15 to make up the shortfall.

Government Water Database
The government believes that the majority of the people who don’t pay are tenants who move home without paying their outstanding bills. To address this issue, the government plans to introduce a national voluntary database where landlords can supply information about their tenants. The more information the water companies have, the easier it will be to chase the non-payers for money if they try and leave a property without paying the bill.

Plans to Make Landlords Legally Responsible
If the Welsh Government has its way, landlords would be made legally responsible for their tenants not paying the water bill, something that all landlords quizzed by the RLA oppose. Indeed, 80% of those questioned were happy to support a voluntary scheme and 63% already provide information when asked.

As Richard Jones, Policy Director of the RLA commented,

“Making landlords legally liable for the debt incurred on water bills where they did not pass on their tenants details to water companies would serve only to add to the creaking weight of regulations already affecting the sector and lead to increased rents to reflect the greater risks involved.”

Hopefully, if the government backed voluntary database proves to be successful, the standing charge we are all obliged to pay will eventually be abolished.