A landlord has agreed to repay £2,160 that he received in housing benefit following the expiry of an improvement notice served by the council requiring works to be completed on the property.
The rent repayment covers a period of seven months during which the landlord failed to complete the necessary improvements ordered by Chesterfield council.
The landlord has not been named by the council.
Councillor Chris Ludlow, responsible for housing, says: “Our private sector housing team work diligently to protect those living in the private housing sector.
“We take action where it is considered appropriate against landlords who rent properties that fall below the required standards.
“This settlement should be seen as a strong warning to landlords, throughout the borough, that they must ensure that the properties they let meet acceptable housing standards and that they must comply with the rules or face the consequences.”
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Fair enough
Was this property part of a licencing scheme? If not, then it shows you don't need any licencing schemes to improve property standards.
As we have already made clear!
Counils are using licencing as a cash cow to replace council taxes that they hven't been able to charge due to caps on the increases they can make.
I see in another article that Manchester are proposing to charge a 100% surcharge on council tax for empty houses, even between tenancies. Talk about kicking landlords when they are down! No rent coming in? There used to be a council tax holiday for landlords of 1 month while changing tenants to allow for this. Now we are to be penalised for taking the time to refresh properties ready for the next tenant!
Paul,
for a long time in our area the council gives no grace at all, we receive council tax billing which starts at midnight on the day the tenant vacates. As a result, landlords want tenants in ASAP and getting any maintenance or property upkeep becomes difficult, we try and book trades such as decorators in advance but often even that is not possible. Good landlords are being forced into corners by the councils for a few quid!
I had a tenant leave at 5pm and the next tenant move in the next day at 9am. I still had to pay one day council tax as the property was vacant at midnight!
John Young… But surely the council tax been paid by the existing tenant for the day that they were leaving and for the new tenant from the day they moved in so how can the council create an extra day??
Elisabeth, The council said they take it from midnight. So at midnight the property was empty therefore they charge one day council tax. So I guess the tenant that left at 5pm didn't pay the tax from midnight till 5pm, I did.
I had very similar it’s just to grab every penny from landlords. At one time you didn’t have to pay anything on vacant property but kept making rules and reducing the period allowance until now zero. Possibly get an exemption for a major refurbishment ? but not sure anymore.
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