Council on track to license every single rental property

Friday 18th May 2012

The council aiming to be the first authority in England and Wales where every single private rental property is licensed has announced its first milestone, with the blanket licensing of one complete ward.

All 257 private rented properties in the Little Ilford ward of Newham, London, have now been licensed.  The ward, which has been designated a Neighbourhood Improvement Zone, is seen as just the start by the council. It wants to extend the scheme to cover the whole of Newham. Consultation is currently under way.

In Little Ilford, the council is using the Proceeds of Crime Act legislation to tackle landlords who flout the conditions of their licences.

Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham, said: “It’s a fantastic achievement to reach this milestone, but we certainly won’t be resting on our laurels. We want this to be just the start.

“We will never accept private sector tenants being directly exploited by landlords who force them to live in dangerous and unacceptable conditions. One bad property drags down a whole street.

“Good landlords have nothing to fear from this scheme. For the bad ones, this a clear message they must clean up their act.”

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Added by Bill on 2012-05-18 11:59:55

This smacks of meddling, job creation, anti landlord bias and another cash machine for the council. As is usual it is all about bad landlords, as if bad tenants do not exist. This is the same council remember that put out the story about sending its LHA tenants to Stoke on Trent, not at all coincidentally just before the local elections.

Added by A Good Landlord on 2012-05-18 10:22:01

Quote from above article -

''Landlords who force them to live in dangerous and unacceptable conditions.One bad property drags down a whole street.'

What a joke!

The tenant has a choice over which property to rent and should be able to tell if one is in reasonable condition or not just as if they were buying a house.

No-one forces them to move into or remian in a house if they don't want to. Housing benefit tenants can get the best accomodation available these days and don't have to opt for properties that are poorly maintanied.

It's far more likely the tenant will ruin a rental property and drag down the whole street than the landlord.

Really we need some common senses stragegies put into effect that will protect good landlords and good tenants alike.

If there are going to be more rules for the landlord to comply witrh yet again let's make it fair on both sides - how about councisl inspecting properties periodically in the private rental sector to see if tenants are not wrecking the well maintained houses they rent from good landlords?

The council could work alongside good landlords and assist those good landlords to address issues that are clearly caused by a bad tenant's abuse of the property

Added by Graeme on 2012-05-18 09:46:09

This is all well and good - but presumably there are fees to be paid to get a licence. Once again the good landlords are paying to eliminate the bad landlords. Fees must be "reasonable". Better still - landlords who pass the inspection/licencing criteria at the first attempt pay no fees. Landlords who fail and need to be re-inspected etc. pay substantial fees which covers the costs of inspecting the good landlords who passed first time and paid nothing

Added by Graeme on 2012-05-18 09:42:07

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