Landlords of more than 5,000 homes must register for a license and ensure their tenants have good quality housing or face prosecution, under a new Islington council scheme.
All private landlords in three parts of the London borough - Finsbury Park, Tollington and Hillrise, where there are allegedly particular problems with poor conditions – must sign up and make their homes up to standard.
Nearly a third of properties in Islington are privately rented, and the council says it is committed to doing everything it can to protect renters and ensure they have a safe place to call home. Around three in four tenants who responded to a consultation on the plans supported them.
Council enforcement officers have been - in the local authority’s words - “deluged with thousands of complaints” about disrepair, damp and mould, inadequate facilities and safety issues.
The selective licensing scheme, approved this week by the council, will cover 5,400 homes in the three wards, tripling the old Finsbury Park scheme it replaces. It applies to all privately rented houses or flats in the three wards that are occupied by a single person, two people sharing, or any number of people forming a single household.
A council spokesperson says: “We want everyone in Islington to have a safe, decent and genuinely affordable place to call home, and we will stand up for private renters let down by the Government.
“While the vast majority of Islington’s landlords are responsible and let good quality homes, renters have told us that many others are riddled with safety and other issues, while their rent continues to soar.
“This new licensing scheme will mean landlords must do more in hazard hotspots to protect tenants – or face action from our enforcement team.”
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How many of these disrepair items are genuine? How many created by the tenant to try and block their landlords issuing a S21 retaliatory eviction?
Excellent and astute point Nick!
Nick, if it is replacing an existing scheme then there must have been a scheme in place anyway. If so the council have let the renters down not the government.
Time and again we are seeing local councils neglecting their responsibility, not doing what they are paid to do while blaming the government for lack of funding. I do not blame the government for not funding as it is wasted on nonsense.
Just as a side issue, my scruffy tenants who set fire to my kitchen and smashed the place up have got the council tied up in knots. Council now sent me an improvement notice to refurbish the place that they destroyed. I have asked for guarantees before I do anything that the council will cover any damage that is caused after we refurbish it until the end of the court proceedings.
Funnily enough they said no, solicitor now appealing on the basis of social housing passed on to PRS and influenced by the council on how to stay put. Fkrs
Agree Peter. They already had a system in place. This is just playing catch-up. Michael Gove seat aside a lot of money earlier this year to encourage tenants to complain!!!! As if they need encouraging.
Sounds like a nightmare dealing with these idiot tenants who have endless rights all at everyone elses' expense.
Islington had an additional licensing scheme - more than two tenants sharing a property and you had to obtain a licence. They have now introduced selective licensing for certain areas of the borough only - you have to have a license in those areas irrespective of how many people in a flat.
So sorry to hear about your awful problem, Peter. It sounds like an extremely unfair situation.
Yes Nick at our expense....
Wouldn't mind but the tenant quoting passages from the 2004 housing act does make me laugh as normally her head is full of white dust and struggles to put a sentence together.
Peter, some Council busybody or no-win no fee scum bag in her ear telling her stuff. It's great she has white powder up her nose but I hope she can still afford the rent? Maybe she will take too much one day and your problem may go away a lot quicker than waiting for our broken court system.
The council tuned her in and then shelter got involved and filled her head with the wrong kind of magic...!
Serving the notice means now I have 28 days before they can do anything and to be honest I would rather pay my solicitor 1k before I pay the council a 695 fine.
Peter, best not give into the hungry money eating council machines.
My first interaction with them in over 20 years for something like this and to be honest if it is my first interaction I could not have been a bad landlord could I...??
You would think a landlord with a good track record with 11 properties and never going across their desk before would be more on side but no they are militant jobsworth *#$#&
I often find public sector workers are a waste of space. Sometimes not overpaid at lower levels but don't do a lot for it and get a fat pension so are just waiting for retirement.
It seems most unfair that tribunals do not revoke improvement notices when the tenant has caused or contributed to the hazards identified. Have a look at case CHI/45UH/HIN/2020/0014
The priority seems to be to get hazards fixed irrespective of the cause of the problem.
However, if the improvement notice requires you to do more than you are legally required to do under regulations then that might be something that could be queried.
Also, police and CPS apparently not taking action when criminal damage caused by the tenant.
Correct Ellie,
Smashed the roof from inside out, called the police as a condition of the insurance and they did not want to know. As it was the tenant they said do you want us to go round but we cannot do anything.
Or do you just want a crime reference number????
I give up honestly..!
I don't know what to suggest Peter. Has your solicitor had any success in the past with the argument that he is now advancing? It sounds like an unusual cause of action.
Did you get a crime reference number? I imagine that that could have been useful.
I have a call with the insurance on Monday and if they insist on it then I will ring them for one….
Never made a claim on the insurance before so new territory for me, solicitor is confident of turning it round though.
Are you going to pursue a civil case against the tenants?
I would if they had anything, but from what I can see they have two parts of sod all so what is the point.
Rather just get them out and move on from the nonsense, luckily I am a little older now so more relaxed about it. If it was when I first started out I shudder to think how I would’ve handled it. 😕
Problem is that once a council serves an improvement notice the right to serve a Section 21 notice is suspended for six months.
Perhaps a Section 8 notice though?
Correct Ellie, S8 is served and still they didn’t go, as previously said they have been tuned in by the anti landlord groups.
My solicitor advised me to go further with the S8 with more detail, not had to do this before so I am going with him on this.
To be fair he is absolutely right as I am a nice guy and put basic details and didn’t go into the full nonsense I have been through.
The council can do what they want but I have all the evidence that we have been refused access on multiple occasions and generally been more than fair. Happy to stand before a court judge and explain to him if necessary.
I would probably have him tears and the end of it 😂
I wish you the very best of luck, Peter, sounds as though you are 100% the victim and are being treated most unfairly.
Peter I wasn't thinking of evidence of a criminal offence by your tenants as necessary for insurance purposes - it was to aid you in your other proceedings.
So Islington is just waking up to the easy money I have had Selective licenses years before now and renewed after 5years as well.
Another anti-Tenants scheme increasing rents, why do they hate them so much at a time cost of living Sky rocketing but at the same time pretending to be their friend.
5400 homes targeted by Council for Selective License in Islington @£500. each = £2’700’000. Application fees alone, that’s a big rent increase isn’t it money for old rope if they love Private Sector Tenants so much that they don’t house them , why aren’t the Selective license Applications Free. The landlords has to spend thousands per property on Compliance’s while Councils imposed their costs on others.
There could be no other group in society who is treated as landlords are without there being massive opposition and a public outcry.
Is it any wonder that there is an impending housing crisis! The BBC has stated that the supply of rental homes has contracted by a third in the last eighteen months. All these licensing schemes are going to reduce supply further - and legislation to take away ownership rights from landlords will be the last straw for many landlords.
And where is that money going or is spent- in (Islington)?? Or to fund councillor’s trips wherever.
What about their Social Housing where the real problems are, they won’t be licensed.
All these biased money making council scams just fuel rent prices , prompt good private housing providers to leave, and almost never effectively deal with the minuscule number of criminal landlords.
So the 'Vast majority' of tenants will get a rent rise while the rogue LLs continue too operate under the radar!
Sadly I am one of the LLs caught up in this scheme. It was £500 in 2022 and has now gone to £800- a 60% increase in fees is a serious money grab.
63 responses to the scheme of which 11 were from tenants and 8 of them were positive about the scheme. Ridiculous.
I am sure when they come to inspect they will dish out so many improvement notices that the £800 fee will be a drop in the ocean of cost.
I will be charging my tenants more rent to cover the cost unfortunately.
As long as the house you're renting out doesn't look like it's falling apart from the inside out I'm sure your tenants will be happy to pay more.
It’s not about the money raised from selective licence fees that is just a smokescreen. Once licensed it enables councils to SUBSTANTIALLY increase fines with the property or landlords assets being charged. Without licensing the councils cannot claim as much. However if you don’t register then you get a fine anyway. It’s nothing short of gangster/mafia behaviour.
Jahan, this is true it gives them a whole lot of extra powers to charge more Fees, issue more Fines, Penalties, Repayment Orders or take Control of your Property and coupled with THE RENTERS REFORM BILL Confiscate your Property.
Incidentally in some Borough’s the huge Licensing Application Fee has gone from £598. in 2006 when first introduced to approximately £1600. for a Semi-Detached Mandatory License depending on the number of rooms, also it only covers one Inspection Visit if the Council’s employee with the clip board has to come back you’ll be paying plenty extra.
Exactly. There are some council staff who wake up every morning hell bent on making a landlord’s life as difficult as possible. The hatred on their face is plain to see. If they have blue hair then you really in trouble It’s strange really as they are just making their own lives miserable with this neo Marxist attitude
In my Borough, I’ve just coughed up for all of mine after the first 5 year licences expired. The consultation gave a negative review from its constituents and whilst there were some positive suggestions from Landlords, these were of course ignored.In 6 years, not one of my properties was ever inspected including my HMO’s and quelle surprise, not one of my tenants reported me. The councils view is to demonise all good Landlords whilst the minority of rogues get away with it. The licence form is just a tick box questionnaire with an upload of a gas safety cert, money for old rope.
I've not received any complaints.
The heading should read "Landlord's claim “thousands of complaints” about councils and homes that they've managed."
Just go to Trust Pilot or any reputable reviews site, type in your council name/housing department.
If the property portal will come to fruition then selective licensing should go BUT as mainly Labour councils runs these schemes (in London) I can't see a future Labour government denying them access to these cash generating schemes. Especially when they come to inspect and dish out the fines for minor things knowing that money penalty fine money they keep for themselves.
Of the 000's of complaints ( how many were there, exactly ? )
How many did the Council inspections find validated ?
Interesting thread if you Google the phrase:
"Subletting tenants and landlords face ‘life-changing’ fines"
More fines for not doing anything wrong. And another reason to get out.
It does make you very worried to continue as a landlord.
Exactly. You do all the paperwork restricting use. You pay for the BS licence that restricts use. You allow the tenant ‘quiet enjoyment’ (another entitlement)! Do inspections. But hey it’s your fault here’s a massive fine. And the tenant wants a Rent Repayment Order or whatever. This country is so backwards now.
Nick as I have said on the other posts, the scruffy fkrs I inherited as a result of subletting and couldn’t get rid because of covid. Now bitten me hard…!
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