14th
Dec 2021
Liverpool council’s housing chief has recently tweeted “Private landlords must be held accountable!”.
She has also campaigned across social media claiming that the private rented sector is “dangerously unregulated, leaving tenants vulnerable to horrendous poor housing standards.”
The councillor and housing chief of the highly controversial council is Sarah Doyle, a senior council member with responsibility for housing.
Earlier this year in March the now ex-Housing and Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick announced plans to appoint Commissioners to supervise authority and take over some council activities – their ‘reign’ would be at least three years.
This was brought into place because of a commissioned investigation in 2020 that found "multiple apparent failures" and a "deeply concerning picture of mismanagement" in Liverpool council.
Doyle posted her social media comments just after it was announced that the government had finally passed a new licensing scheme in Liverpool, which although covering 45,000 homes it is far smaller than previously requested by Liverpool for a citywide scheme that was flatly refused in 2019.
Sixteen wards in the city are targeted by the authority within the new scheme where 20 per cent of homes are let out by landlords.
The new licensing scheme will start from April 2022 for five years, however charges for landlords have so far not been forthcoming.
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