Is the Housing Minister doing enough to evict rogue landlords?

Grant Shapps, the Housing Minister, has promised to do everything in his power to stamp down on rogue landlords who make their tenants lives a misery through bad conditions and harassment.

In December 2011, after Channel 4's 'Dispatches: Landlords from Hell' programme, our supporters wrote to the Housing Minister to ask him what exactly he planned to do to protect families from rogue landlords.

Two months later, his response still hasn't addressed this question.

We say: Grant Shapps should stop talking about stamping out rogue landlords and start taking action. What do you think?

Is the Housing Minister doing enough to evict rogue landlords?

Yes No
Yes No

Results so far

 
 Yes 7%
 
 No 93%
Yes>Read the minister’s
full response here » Grant Shapps

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Thank you for your email following on from Channel 4s Dispatches Programme Landlords from Hell screened on 5 December. I would like to assure you that Ministers take a close interest in this area.

Landlords have a responsibility to ensure that the property they let is fit for habitation, and local authorities have strong powers to ensure that they meet those responsibilities. Under the Housing Act 2004 have powers to inspect residential properties, and to require the owners to make improvements. If they are aware of a serious ("category 1") hazard, they are under a duty to take appropriate action to address the hazard. Failure by the landlord to take action against a notice served on them by the local authority can result in a fine or a criminal conviction.

Ministers have urged local authorities to make full use of their powers to tackle rogue landlords and will continue to do so. If someone believes that their local authority has not taken appropriate action, and not responded adequately to a complaint, then they can ask the Local Government Ombudsman to consider their complaint.

Homelessness legislation already contains protections that provide safeguards for people owed a homeless duty. The local authority must, by law, consider whether the accommodation is suitable for the applicant and their households particular needs. This includes whether the accommodation is affordable for the applicant, its size, its condition, its accessibility and also its location. Applicants have the right to ask the local authority for a review of suitability and if not satisfied, to appeal to the county court on a point of law.

Although surveys suggest that theres a high level of satisfaction for those renting in the private sector higher than in the social sector Ministers nonetheless, remain concerned about circumstances in which properties of a sub-standard nature are let. We are working with local authorities to review the powers available to them to tackle rogue landlords.

Ministerial Correspondence Team Department for Communities and Local Government