Labour vows to extend Awaab’s Law to the PRS

Labour vows to extend Awaab’s Law to the PRS

10:16 AM, 31st January 2024, About 3 months ago 22

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Labour’s Angela Rayner says the party will extend Awaab’s Law to landlords in the private rented sector (PRS).

She told Good Morning Britain viewers – see the video below – this will protect 1.6 million children who live in cold, damp or mouldy homes owned by private landlords, according to data from Citizen’s Advice.

Awaab’s Law was named after Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old boy who died in 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by mould at his home in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

His home was ‘unfit for human habitation’, an inquest found.

Promised to deliver Awaab’s Law for social housing

The Government has promised to deliver Awaab’s Law for social housing, but Labour says this is not enough and wants to close a loophole that excludes private landlords from the legislation.

Ms Rayner, Labour’s Deputy Leader, said: “The private rented sector has widespread problems with damp, mould and cold, driven by the poor energy efficiency of privately rented homes.

“It is a no-brainer to extend Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector and that is exactly what Labour will do.”

Labour is urging the Government to back its plan in amendments to the Private Renters Bill, which will be debated in Parliament in February.

Forcing landlords to investigate hazards within two weeks

A consultation on Awaab’s Law, launched earlier this month, proposes forcing landlords to investigate hazards within two weeks, to fix issues within a further seven days and make emergency repairs within 24 hours. Landlords who fail to comply could be dragged to court and ordered to pay compensation.

Ms Rayner also revealed that she had friends and family who were afraid to complain about their living conditions for fear of being evicted.

She said: “The problem we’ve got is a problem of supply.

“Many people are living in homes that they know are not good for their health and the health of their children.

“But they know that if they raise these concerns and the local authority condemns the property, that they’ll end up homeless.”

People were being relocated to other boroughs

Ms Rayner added that some people were being relocated to other boroughs where there are more homes available, disrupting their lives.

She said: “Some families are ending up 20, 30 – even 200 miles away from where they live, so the children can’t go to the local school.

“If they are in work they can’t get to their job. So, it has a real knock on effect on people.”

Watch Angela Rayner hit out at private landlords and their mouldy homes:


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Comments

Cider Drinker

10:20 AM, 31st January 2024, About 3 months ago

If damp is caused by a building defect, the quickest remedy (and the only remedy that can be enacted within 24 hours) would be eviction.
Maybe the answer is to keep 5% of homes empty so that we have somewhere to move tenants.
I support the principle but I cannot see how it will work in practice.

Reluctant Landlord

10:21 AM, 31st January 2024, About 3 months ago

She said: “The problem we’ve got is a problem of supply."

*facepalm slap*

Martin Roberts

10:23 AM, 31st January 2024, About 3 months ago

So this week 'We've got a problem of supply'.

A few weeks ago the were 'Plenty of landlords'.

TheBiggerPicture

11:03 AM, 31st January 2024, About 3 months ago

24hrs remedy is ridiculous for a majority of landlords.

It's not like a gas leak that's a real emergency. What if it gets completed in 25 hours.

What if it takes 16 hours to get someone out and diagnose issue?

This is a step too far.

Lee Bailey

11:20 AM, 31st January 2024, About 3 months ago

Raynor is a self styled Gustapo. Working directly against common sense and landlords.

95% of mould is caused by how tenants are living. Many videos about this. (Skilled Builder etc).

If people are poor and choose NOT to put heating on and to turn off the positive input ventilation systems, allowing mould to take hold... Who is at fault???

In Labours eyes its us landlords. Vote accordingly.

Cider Drinker

11:23 AM, 31st January 2024, About 3 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Lee Bailey at 31/01/2024 - 11:20
We don’t know the percentage and making numbers up doesn’t help.

Many properties are poorly designed, poorly built and poorly (retrospectively) insulated. Most damp is probably not entirely of the tenants’ own making.

Reluctant Landlord

12:24 PM, 31st January 2024, About 3 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 31/01/2024 - 12:09
Proposals are woolly to say the least. They read as a list of process steps not individual standalone proposals as would be expected.

A sure fire example of they don't have a clear defined understanding of what the key problem is here they are trying to address (the exact reason for mould etc or just the process to deal with it once the issue is reported??)

Spending more time worrying about what to do when it is reported than ensuring the property is actually managed and checked regularly and properly.

That says to me that the whole issue of prevention and lack of checking is now an accepted norm. It's only about seeing to be doing something rather than doing anything at all.

Raz

13:06 PM, 31st January 2024, About 3 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 31/01/2024 - 11:23
Damp no...but condensation yes.

Michael Booth

13:36 PM, 31st January 2024, About 3 months ago

The left wing looney raynor will be out if stammer gets in , he can't get rid yet because it will kick off in the liebor party, she is totally clueless, look at her record.

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