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Freedom of information requests submitted by a local campaigner reveals that 6,000 landlords have been the subject of a complaint to Tyne and Wear authorities in the last three years.
6,297 complaints were received by five separate councils, yet only one landlord was prosecuted. Newcastle council received the highest number of complaints, starting with 1007 in 2014 and rising to 1127 in 2016. Complaints fell in Sunderland, but Gateshead and North Tyneside had their ups and downs.
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High Levels of Complaints against Rogue Landlords
The number of complaints was far higher than expected, despite the fact that South Tyneside refused to comply with the freedom of information request, saying that it would take one person 18 hours to retrieve the information. If you break the figures down, local authorities are receiving, on average, one complaint per day.
Many of the complaints will be minor. Most will have been resolved informally or via mediation, but it does beg the question of why only one rogue landlord was prosecuted. Housing campaigners suggest that the system for dealing with rogue landlords is not working correctly and reform is needed.
Too Little Action Being Taken
There is also a huge question mark over South Tyneside. If they can’t provide information on rogue landlords in their area, it seems unlikely that they have any stringent systems in place to deal with the problem. In fact, they may not even be aware there is a problem!
