Council declares war on Landlords while stealing housing from them

Council declares war on Landlords while stealing housing from them

11:01 AM, 7th June 2021, About 3 years ago 20

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A council has explicitly announced it’s “on the side of tenants against landlords”. Totally ignoring the fact that landlords are its citizens too. And citizens they are legally required to serve!

To date, this council boasts that it has stolen £320,000 worth of housing by way of rent repayment orders in respect of tenants who have had somewhere to live courtesy of private landlords, but where the council has been able to steal-back all the rent, “because the landlords have not licensed their properties, the law permits the council to steal £320,000 worth of housing by taking back all the rent, so the landlord gets zero.”  In most cases the landlord will also have been fined at least £12,000 for not having a licence as well, that goes straight into the council’s coffers.

The decision was approved by the council after a  ‘consultation’ last year and now Councillor Eve McQuillan, responsible for the authority’s planning and social inclusion, makes it clear that the licensing is not for the benefit of landlords.

She says: “Too many landlords in the borough still fail in their obligations to their tenants. Landlord licensing has been a game-changer for us to take action against rogue landlords so I’m really pleased we’ve extended the Selective Licensing Scheme.

“We’re very clear that we’re on the side of tenants and want to see big reforms in the private rented sector to reset the balance of power between landlords and renters.”  With which statement she shows she absolutely chooses not to understand that the tenants already hold all the power and landlords nil, but there are no votes in that because they and the voters have all been brainwashed by Shelter and the like.

What she forgot to mention was; “Because we are making a massive amount of money stripping landlords of their assets through £millions in licensing fees and the £multi-millions of fines we can trump-up against decent landlords.

The current Selective Licensing Scheme has been in operation in parts of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets since October 2016 and has put a legal duty on landlords and agents responsible for the privately rented properties to apply for a licence.

The council says: “Since its launch, the scheme has allowed for the effective management of rented properties to prevent and deal with anti-social behaviour originating from the private rented sector and has made overall improvements to property conditions across these neighbourhoods.

“Tower Hamlets will now focus on enforcing several areas to ensure the standards of the scheme are upheld. This includes issuing fines to landlords or agents who fail to license their properties; effective management of rent properties to prevent anti-social behaviour and taking action against landlords or agents who fail to maintain their properties to a good standard.”

Isn’t it interesting that whereas the police and the council combined have totally failed to deal with anti-social behaviour of people, they claim it can be fixed by making landlords responsible.

But wait, it means there’s something else councils can fine landlords for when surprise, surprise, little landlords can’t do what the combined power of the councils and the police couldn’t manage. I believe that’s called a set-up!

John Biggs, Mayor of Tower Hamlets, adds: “The extension of the Selective Licensing Scheme ensures we can continue to protect tenants and drive up the quality of private rented accommodation.  We are using the powers at our disposal to protect renters and want the government to let us do even more, so we can extend the scheme borough-wide. We will continue to stick up for the rights of renters and keep lobbying the government on this.”

Based on an analysis of the London Rogue Landlord database by Landlord Licensing & Defence, Currently only 11th in the league table of Landlord bashing with only 1.8% of the landlord fines, Tower Hamlets has obviously looked in awe at the 39% share of the £multi-million landlord fines market taken by London Borough of Camden and the 15% share enjoyed by Waltham Forest and needs to up its game to generate the revenue it so obviously lusts after.

Council after council in the UK is turning away from old-school professional housing officers and replacing them with Housing Enforcement Officers who are revenue generation experts with little care for housing quality and totally focussed on extorting money from landlords, all of whom they are indoctrinated to believe are criminals by definition. We regularly see councils helping themselves to between 25% and 50% of a rental property’s asset value. Many sensible landlords are selling up and getting out while they can.

It is war, and it is a war that landlords will not win. The biggest losers however will be the tenants where there will be fewer rental homes and rent will go up as they heap additional costs and risks on landlords. Citizens for whom councils have shirked their responsibility to build social housing for decades now and who cannot afford to buy the properties that landlord are offloading. But councils do not care about them, about landlords or in fact about anything but revenue generation. Councils across the land are out of control.


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Comments

JB

12:20 PM, 7th June 2021, About 3 years ago

Congratulations Council! Tenants rents will be going to cover expenses and there will more tenants chasing fewer properties than ever before.

The chickens will eventually come home to roost

Terence Birch

12:28 PM, 7th June 2021, About 3 years ago

Can I ask why these Landlords didn't have a licence?

Matarredonda

12:30 PM, 7th June 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by JB at 07/06/2021 - 12:20
And or suddenly Councils will realise no properties are available for rent as Landlords will have sold up
I am all for maintaining high standards but that argument cuts both ways.

TheBiggerPicture

12:31 PM, 7th June 2021, About 3 years ago

Thanks for bringing us this information.
It's sad to see this kind of policy becoming more prevalent at all levels of government, and not just against landlords.

Carol

12:34 PM, 7th June 2021, About 3 years ago

Landlords now have very few rights. Landlords cannot control tenants behaviour and now it is very difficult and costly to evict a tenant that is causing ASB. Police will rarely intervene and it is very difficult to prove in court, if you ever get that far.

No sane landlord would knowingly take a tenant that would cause ASB and devalue their property.

What has happened to landlords rights to run a business in a professional way?

TheBiggerPicture

12:44 PM, 7th June 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Carol at 07/06/2021 - 12:34
You have no rights, the Government has them.
They just give you some privileges they until they take away at a whim.

Mike

14:08 PM, 7th June 2021, About 3 years ago

Loud mouthed, shouting and bloody thieving and robbing councils who introduce the Selective licensing, they do not shout loud enough that their actions taken to Licence properties effects the Tenants directly by way of increased rents, do the tenants not wonder why rents have gone through the sky?
The Tenants need to know and someone needs to tell them quite honestly any pressure put on Landlords simply gets passed down to tenants, in the way of higher rents, be this a Selective licensing and its strict requirements, and whether it is other Government regulations such as improving insulation, or EPC rating, any expense that landlords incur has to come from somewhere as the bloody money does not grow on trees, the thick heads in the Government and local councils think Landlords can print money from thin air or vacuum, No No No, this money has to come from somewhere, and that is the Tenants have to pay for it indirectly. If I am forced insulate my property I rent with £10K outlay, do you think I am going to continue to rent that house for the same amount per month? No, of course not, but I will have to hike my rents so that I can get my outlay paid back to me in say 5 years, so that works out £2k per year I need to recover for 5 years, which brings the rent up by £166.00 per month, and after 5 years this rent might not actually come down due to the effects of other inflation or some more new legislation, it can forever keep going up. Yes if you want a 5 Star accommodation you will have to pay for a 5 star accommodation, but if you are happy enough with a 2 star, your rents can remain low. Yes there will be a small advantage to the tenants by way of lower heating bills, but not all that much, they may be saving £200 to £300 per year in their heating bills.

Indirectly Government and Local Councils are driving Tenants rents higher and higher, by making a higher demand on Landlords, They foolishly claim to work for the Tenants are actually robbing the tenants! Thieves!

TheBiggerPicture

14:31 PM, 7th June 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Mike at 07/06/2021 - 14:08
The perpetrators of this kind of policy always say, the landlords can't put rent up, if they would of the could of.
But some give their long term tenants a discount by not putting the rent up to market rates.

When the margin gets too thin, this discount and other generosity goes out the window.

David Judd

14:51 PM, 7th June 2021, About 3 years ago

Its the councils fault for selling all the council properties, and now council tenants have to rent privately. A small % of landlords need a good kick up the butt, but the majority are good hard working people trying to make a living like everyone else. Its a shame that the headlines only cover a few rogue landlords. Hardly ever do you see issues with problem tenants and when you do, its because the Landlord has suffered time and ££££ to get them evicted

TrevL

13:16 PM, 8th June 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by David Judd at 07/06/2021 - 14:51
Not sure it was the council that sold the housing, wasn't it Thatcher and her right to buy?

To be fair I though the whole point of the PRS was to outsource the liabiities of housing council tenants in part to the free market, but councils have to regulate otherwise tenants would end up living in pig stys.

What may have been missed is that PRS housing will get transferred to the best tenants, not the ones the council pays for.

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