Enforcement on criminal landlords sees over £400,000 in penalty notices
Enforcement by Havering Council has seen £462,000 issued in penalty notices to criminal landlords over the last year.
A landlord in Collier Row, was recently fined £20,000 which included £5,000 for failing to licence a house in multiple occupancy (HMO), £5,000 for failure to manage adequate fire safety regulations and another £5,000 for unsafe conditions in the outside back garden of the property.
The Council’s private landlord licensing team are continuing to crack down on those landlords operating inadequate and dangerous living conditions in HMOs.
Enforcement between April 2018 and August 2019 has included:
- 153 financial penalty notices
- 25 housing related notices served to address poor housing standards
- 2,581 formal warning letters sent out
- 34 multi-agency enforcement operations
- £462, 000 – value issued in penalty notices to landlords
The latest figures come as landlords, tenants, residents and agents have just over one week to let Havering Council know what they think of proposals to extend the landlord licensing scheme.
The consultation, which ends on Friday 20 September, is looking at the possible expansion of the scheme from the current 12 wards, which would see regulation of local housing in multiple occupancy (HMOs) rolled out to a further six wards in the borough, covering Cranham, Emerson Park, Hacton, Hylands, St Andrew’s and Upminster.
The proposals will also consider looking at introducing a selective licensing scheme to cover single family properties in Romford Town and Brookland wards only.
Councillor Viddy Persaud, Cabinet Member for Public Protection and Safety, said: “We won’t tolerate landlords taking advantage of local families and individuals by providing overcrowded and poorly maintained HMO properties.
“Our officers will continue to be proactive to make sure tenants are living safely in private rented accommodation.
“We also want your views on extending our landlord licensing scheme, so if you haven’t already, please let us know what you think.
“We want to do all we can to help increase protection to tenants, support landlords and further support our aim of tackling poor management, overcrowding and anti-social behaviour.”