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Landlords throughout the British Isles face a consistent and incessant public relations battle. Ever the easy target for print media and disgruntled agitators, our industry faces a seemingly never-ending headwind of new regulations. Unfortunately, much of this is driven by negative public caricatures and a misunderstanding of the services landlords provide. However, our industry is also blighted by a small percentage of criminal and improper landlords. Those whose practices bring the rest of us into disrepute.
Councils are Failing to Prosecute Rogue Landlords
The only way that landlords as a group can improve our public perception, is to prove the negative assumptions and beliefs wrong – something we cannot do whilst a small subsection of landlords continue to bend the rules and misbehave. With this in mind, it is disappointing to learn that over two-thirds of English councils have failed to prosecute any landlords for offences related to standards in or the management of private rented housing over the last three years.
Simply, we as an industry require that councils do a better job of holding up standards to ensure a properly functioning rental market. It makes no sense whatsoever to constantly regulate and restrict law abiding and decent landlords whilst an undercurrent of our industry are left to pick and choose the legislation that suits them – a point highlighted by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA).
NRLA FOI Requests Show Councils are Failing to Prosecute Criminal Landlords
The NRLA submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to 283 local authorities across England. Responses showed that in the three years between 2018 and 2021, 67 per cent of local authorities failed to successfully prosecute a landlord for offences related to standards in or the management of private rented housing. An additional 10 per cent had only managed one successful prosecution.
Perhaps the most disappointing finding by the NRLA was that a mere 20 local authorities were responsible for 77 percent of all successful prosecutions. In fact, the local authorities of Southwark, Birmingham and Hull accounted for 38 per cent of all successful persecutions across England.
Legislation to Combat Rogue Landlords Isn’t Working
In total, local authorities managed just 927 prosecutions of criminal landlords since 2018, despite estimates that there are more than 10,500 rogue landlords in England. What use is further reform and restrictions within the private rental sector if councils are unwilling to use their current powers to pursue criminal landlords? Additional regulation will only act to squeeze out well intentioned landlords who strive to abide by the rules and provide a fair service to tenants.
The NRLA rightly argues that a failure to enforce the wide range of powers already available to tackle criminal and rogue landlords will critically undermine further reform in the private rental sector. This is especially pertinent in an environment where more and more local authorities are introducing landlord licensing; a policy which adds additional costs to compliant landlords and does little to combat the uncompliant. Notably, Birmingham and Hull – two of the most successful authorities for persecuting criminal landlords – are yet to implement a landlord licensing scheme.
Councils Need More Support to Pursue Rogue Landlords
Research conducted by Unchecked UK suggests that local authorities in England have nearly halved the amount that they spend enforcing housing standards. Between 2009 and 2019, the amount spent enforcing housing standards fell by 45 per cent. The NRLA is calling for the Government to provide additional support to councils so that they can afford to better enforce housing standards compliance and take the fight to criminal landlords.
However, to paraphrase Stan Lee, with greater budgets must come greater responsibility. Councils should be encouraged to publish their formal and informal enforcement activity publicly. They must be held to account. Not only to ensure that they are committed to tackling the damage caused by criminal and rogue landlords but to ensure that they use any newfound budgets to tackle the most problematic landlords and not those who endeavour to follow the letter of the law.
Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said:
“The vast majority of responsible landlords are sick and tired of a failure to root out the minority who bring the sector into disrepute. The problem is not a lack of powers, but a failure by councils to enforce them properly.
“Whilst ensuring councils have the resources, they need is vital, so too is the need for them to be more transparent about the levels of enforcement they are taking. In short, local authorities need to prioritise activity to find and root out criminal landlords, ensuring it is they who meet the costs of such efforts.
Our research illustrates also that there is no clear link between the existence of a landlord licensing scheme and levels of prosecutions. Councils again need to be open with tenants and landlords about how such schemes are ensuring standards are met in rental housing.”
It is imperative that more is done to combat rogue landlords. Only then can the private rental sector hope to restore some degree of our public image and forestall additional punitive regulations.
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