9th
Apr 2017
Housing Minister Gavin Barwell gave councils the new powers to slap rogue landlords with fines of up to £30,000 instead of having to take them to court. All income derived from the fines will be for councils to plough back into their housing enforcement campaign.
The new 'controls' that local authorities received from the government came into force from Thursday 6th April allows councils to hand out fines for a number of housing offences and includes:
Being able to extend rent repayment orders for landlords that rent out unlicensed 'homes'.
Fines can be handed to landlords for such offenses as illegal evictions and harassing tenants, breaking banning orders and using violence to enter a property.
Gavin Barwell said: “These measures will give councils the additional powers they need to tackle poor-quality rental homes in their area.
“By driving out of business those rogue landlords that continue to flout the rules, we can raise standards, improve affordability and give tenants the protections they need.”
Another new important power that councils were given is being able to access tenancy deposit scheme data which allows them to find all privately rented properties in their area to aid their fight against the small numbers of rogue landlords.
The new fines and powers were unveiled in the Government's Housing white paper in February.
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