A firm warning to rouge landlords
Residential landlords in London and Glasgow, two of the UK’s largest cities, have been warned that local authorities are no longer prepared to put up with non compliance over registration schemes and that rogue landlords will be hunted down and brought before the courts.
Good relationships work best
Of course the great majority of landlords across the UK are highly respected businesspersons who look after their properties as one would expect. A costly investment needs protection, not only in the guise of landlord insurance but also in maintenance, and décor, something achieved best by having an excellent relationship with their tenant.
Many local authorities encourage even better relationships between landlord and tenant by requiring property owners to register with them so they can ascertain they are fit and proper persons to rent out property. The schemes work well for landlords and tenants in many of Britain’s towns and cities.
Majority of landlords support council scheme
In Glasgow 80% of the cities private landlords have signed up to a scheme which requires them to register with the local council and provide tenants with a certain level of accommodation.
The scheme has been in operation for over 6 years and although landlords who have signed up to the scheme have no problem with the scheme itself they have been concerned over the councils lack of action with the 6,000 landlords who have not signed up to a scheme that was supposed to be compulsory. At long last the council appear to have listened to landlord organisations and have stepped up their efforts to track down the illegal traders.
Fine increased ten fold
The council, with the support of the Scottish Landlords Association, have now upped the maximum fine for not registering with the scheme to £50,000, ten times higher than it was before. They are collating evidence of properties not already registered to the scheme and preparing to take the landlords to court.
Website will collect information on rogue landlords
Further South in London, Ken Livingstone a candidate for the upcoming Mayoral elections has pledged that private landlords who don’t offer acceptable levels of accommodation to their tenants will be looking for legal advice if he is elected. He has pledged to eradicate bad practice from the rented sector altogether saying Londoners deserve a better deal.
Mr Livingstone has set up a website encouraging tenants to report the many “housing horror stories” he says he hears about constantly. He promises to closely monitor the 1 in 4 homes in London that are rented out via the private sector and says that too many people are paying exorbitant prices for accommodation that in many cases is not at an acceptable level.