Rogue Landlords Must be Stopped

 

You may have noticed today in the news that rogue landlords are again the topic of debate. Back in November, the government made a number of promises in their Housing Strategy in order to clamp down on rogue landlords and toughen sentencing for serial rogue landlords.

And now, homelessness charity, Shelter, are urging the government, and in particular the Housing Minister Grant Shapps, to stick to their proposed plans and promises as a huge and worrying number of rogue landlords continue to prosper at the expense of others as a result of the high demand for rental accommodation.

Steps To Take

Shelter has outlined that they want to see the following steps implemented for those landlords that break the law and abuse their tenants:

1) Sentencing must be tougher on rogue landlords – the maximum penalty for ignoring a court order to improve the conditions of the home must be raised from £5,000 to £20,000.

2) There needs to be a rogue landlord prosecution fund – for earmarking money to enable councils to toughen up on criminal landlords in their area.

3) Further protection for tenants – safeguarding tenants from being evicted when complaining about their landlord.

4) An online database of convicted landlords.

5) A rogue landlord summit convened by the Housing Minister in order to create a clear action plan to protect tenants.

Renting is Now the Only Choice for Many

Furthermore, Shelter’s Chief Executive, Campbell Robb, has been commenting on the situation: “Renting is no longer simply a stop gap for young people before they get on the housing ladder. More and more families are bringing up children in privately rented homes, and many have to take a chance on the first place they can afford.”

He added that such “high demand is a golden opportunity for rogue landlords who are exploiting the desperation of people looking for a home, and leaving them trapped in houses that fail to meet basic living standards and, in some cases, put lives at risk.”

This is clearly something that needs to be prevented by the government. Rogue landlords may even be operating without any landlord insurance and the only way, it seems, to put a stop to rogue landlords getting away with their illegal operations is to take the necessary steps outlined by Shelter above.

What would you like to see done about it? It would be great to get your views…