Liverpool Landlord Licensing Falls Foul Of Deregulation Act

Liverpool Landlord Licensing Falls Foul Of Deregulation Act

23:09 PM, 24th May 2016, About 8 years ago 51

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Liverpool Landlord Licensing Also Falls Foul Of Deregulation Act

Not only does the application form for Liverpool Landlord Licensing fall foul of the Data Protection Act, the scheme rules also fall foul of the De-Regulation Act.

I refer to condition 4 of their Landlord License . The Council insist that Landlords issue a section 21 where anti-social behaviour is taking place.

Their specified timeline would mean a landlord issuing a section 21 after a maximum of 45 days, YET the De-Regulation Act clearly states that in the case of new tenancies, a section 21 notice cannot be issued in the first 4 months of a tenancy.

If a landlord fails to comply with the conditions imposed by this council, (s)he could be fined, get a criminal record and have the management of his property taken away from him/her.

On the other hand, if (s)he issues the Section 21 as per the Licensing Condition then that would not be valid based on the De-Regulation Act.

That is the nonsense Liverpool are forcing landlords to sign up to, and their co -regulation bodies, with their legal teams, seem to have overlooked this detail.

In my opinion Liverpool City Council are not a fit body to regulate landlords judging from the paucity of their Landlord application forms and the actual licenses themselves.

I call upon the Housing Minister to intervene.

On the 10th May , The ICO stated that in their view Liverpool City Council’s Landlord Licening Application Form falls foul of the Data Protection Act. Despite this damning verdict Liverpool are writing to Landlords waffling about having received advice from the DPA but failing to admit to the breach. This issue will not recede as the forms are not compliant and Liverpool do not have Landlords signatures agreeing to their draconian conditions.

The license and its conditions could quite easily result in a criminal prosecution for any landlord operating in Liverpool. With the help of Property118 and its members I now want to take the fight to Liverpool Council, which itself has has been prosecuted in the magistrates court for a criminal offence in 2006/2007.

I am holding a meeting for all Landlords who feel strongly about this and want to take further action. The Council and their co-regulators (the RLA) are neither invited nor welcome.

To explain what we can do now, with a view to getting this licensing scheme scrapped altogether, I am hosting an emergency meeting and inviting all Liverpool Landlords to attend on at 7PM on Thursday 26th May 2016. There is no cost to attend. The venue is the Conservative Club, Birkdale Village Southport.

To book your place please complete the form below. I will receive a copy of your contact details.

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Comments

Romain Garcin

10:18 AM, 25th May 2016, About 8 years ago

For those who want to read the licence conditions in full, here is the document:

http://liverpool.gov.uk/media/8889/landlord-licensing-conditions-23-9-2015.pdf

Larry Sweeney

10:22 AM, 25th May 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "25/05/2016 - 09:21":

For the avoidance of doubt, and for the benefit of the council apologists, below is the wording of the flawed condition.

Liverpool license conditions Anti social behaviour 4:3 (g)

"if after 14 days of giving a warning letter the tenant has taken no steps to address the anti -social behaviour and the ASB is continuing, the license holder shall take formal steps under the written statement of the terms for occupation eg the tenancy agreement or license and which shall include promptly taking any legal proceedings to address the anti social behaviour by issuing a SECTION 21 NOTICE."

That cannot be clearer! There is NO mention of section 8.

Liverpool and the RLA Policy Officer are WRONG, yet again!

End of Story.

Mandy Thomson

10:29 AM, 25th May 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "25/05/2016 - 10:16":

Thanks, Mark. Without wishing to hijack the thread, I believe @The_Landlord manages on the whole to strike a fine balance between using a very edgy brand of humour to liven up his posts and get his point across (on what can be very dull subject matter), without demonstrating any aggression within his blogs - that, at least to my mind, is where humour generally crosses the line to become something much darker. For example, why Councillor Divine's use of "colourful and flamboyant" language was not in the least funny...

While his articles definitely don't fall short on humour, they are nevertheless very thoroughly researched and informative. The blogs are clearly written by someone with a very thorough knowledge of the PRS and the relevant legislation.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

10:36 AM, 25th May 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mandy Thomson" at "25/05/2016 - 10:29":

Yes I agree
.

Mandy Thomson

10:41 AM, 25th May 2016, About 8 years ago

Should Liverpool landlords issue Liverpool Council's licensing scheme with a section 21 to get rid of it...?! 🙂

Larry Sweeney

10:45 AM, 25th May 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "25/05/2016 - 09:40":

Thanks Adam for screen shooting the conditions.
As You said, the RLA policy office is quite wrong. What on earth is going on?
Surely they can read the conditions and distinguish between a sect 21 and a section 8. I think perhaps its down to due diligence and the Council apologists have failed to conduct due diligence and end up again on the wrong side of the argument, with their associates in the council In the mean time we will continue to fight the landlords corner.

Larry Sweeney

10:53 AM, 25th May 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mandy Thomson" at "25/05/2016 - 10:41":

Unfortunately Mandy, Unlike the Council we do not advocate Law breaking and the de regulation act does not allow a section 21 to be issued within the first 4 months. But you are absolutely correct these law breaking idiots should be sent packing. I hope you have registered for our meeting tomorrow, and very much look forward to meeting you.

Mandy Thomson

11:02 AM, 25th May 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Larry Sweeney" at "25/05/2016 - 10:53":

Thanks, Larry. I'm afraid I'm not a Liverpool Landlord, I live in and rent out property in Greater London. However, I reluctantly became involved in the subject of landlord licensing in general when I got involved with the legal campaign to get the Croydon scheme overturned (which was unsuccessful).

I'm not suggesting Liverpool landlords break the law - I'm simply suggesting they follow the logic and spirit of their local authority and simply section 21 away anything they don't like (maybe that can be coined as a new phrase.. Maybe not.)! After all, your LA would hardly suggest bending or breaking the law now, would they? 🙂

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

12:14 PM, 25th May 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mandy Thomson" at "25/05/2016 - 11:02":

Hi Mandy

When Larry has finished exposing all of the faults in the Liverpool scheme (ha's barely started yet) then he will move on to destroy many of the other schemes he's researched. You will be pleased to note that Croydon is one of them 🙂
.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

19:09 PM, 25th May 2016, About 8 years ago

Check out the pathetic attempt (screen shot below) to justify the wording used to justify the by Liverpool Council's defective Landlord Licensing schemer rules.

I can barely believe these are the words of the RLA Policy Director, a solicitor whom I once had a great deal of respect for.

Where is a landlord supposed to draw the line if the wording is indeed an "example"?

Would leaving a freshly caught fish  on the offending tenants doorstep (Mafia style) suffice to comply with the scheme rules?

Landlord Licensing

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