Criminal landlords could face jail but critics warn of enforcement gaps

A landlord organisation and the Scottish Conservatives warn new proposals aimed at tackling criminal landlords must address the root of the problem.

Scottish Labour has tabled an amendment to the Scottish Housing Bill that could see landlords who illegally evict tenants face up to two years in prison.

The Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL) says that whilst they are supportive of tougher measures, there’s still a big issue with poor enforcement of the rules already in place.

The Shadow Housing Secretary for the Scottish Conservatives, Meghan Gallacher, MSP, argues the proposals could do more harm than good.

Urgent need to strengthen the law

Under the proposals, a landlord who lies or provides false and misleading information to the Tribunal to secure an eviction order could face a fine or up to six months in prison on a summary conviction.

The proposals say if convicted on indictment, the penalty could be a fine or imprisonment for up to two years.

The amendment does not give an example of false information but says “if a landlord misleads a tenant into ceasing to occupy a let property”, this could also lead to penalties.

The amendment also points out that criminal penalties for misleading the Tribunal do not prevent tenants from pursuing separate civil action for illegal eviction or financial damages from the landlord.

Labour MSP Katy Clark, who introduced the proposals, told the Daily Record: “There’s an urgent need to strengthen the law to increase the criminal sanctions for rogue landlords.

“That has to include the possibility of lengthy jail sentences for the worst kinds of ‘slum’ landlords who forcibly evict vulnerable and poverty-stricken tenants.

“There’s absolutely no excuse for failing to strengthen the law to crack down on this abuse in the rental sector.”

Address the problems they are designed to solve

However, the Scottish Association of Landlords warns that new measures need to be backed by proper enforcement to make a real impact.

SAL chief executive, John Blackwood, told Property118: “The Scottish Association of Landlords supports any measures that tackles rogue and criminal landlord behaviour.

“While changing the law might help, there remains the bigger issue of the lack of enforcement of current legislation and concerns about ensuring that any news laws actually address the problems they are designed to solve.”

The Scottish Conservatives echoed the Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL) on tackling criminal landlords, but argued that piling on more rules will backfire amid a housing crisis.

Scottish Conservative shadow cabinet secretary for housing, Meghan Gallacher, told Property118: “We should certainly crack down on rogue landlords and impose penalties on those that wilfully break the law.

“But against a backdrop of a housing emergency in Scotland, which was accelerated by rent controls imposed by the SNP and their former partners the Greens, additional regulatory burdens risk making matters worse.

“The SNP government should concentrate on increasing access to housing and applying the existing rules, not adding yet more deterrents to a sector already in crisis, thanks to their appalling mismanagement.”

Act as a greater disincentive to landlords from engaging in this unlawful behaviour

A Scottish government spokesperson told the Daily Record the new proposal would act as a deterrent.

The spokesperson told the Daily Record: “Scottish government amendments to the Housing (Scotland) Bill have been lodged which include increasing the penalty for wrongful termination, in line with the strengthened approach to unlawful eviction damages, and will act as a greater disincentive to landlords from engaging in this unlawful behaviour.

“A number of amendments have been lodged by MSPs at stage 2 of the Housing (Scotland) Bill and will be considered by the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee.”