The government is showing that it’s prepared to put its money where its mouth is when it comes to rogue landlords, according to an official press release on the 14th of January 2019.
A total of almost £2.4 million is being released to around 50 local authorities to help them in their fight against those rogue landlords seemingly bent on making their tenants’ lives a misery.
The funding is intended to:
- support measures by local councils to encourage better standards in the private rented sector and, so, protect tenants – by building stronger support networks, for example, with the emergency services, local housing rights groups, and legal services;
- fill short-term staffing requirements in local authority housing departments;
- develop new technologies to assist councils in protecting tenants; and
- provide funding for whatever action needs to be taken against rogue landlords.
The press release recognises that the majority of landlords take their duties and responsibilities seriously but that there is a minority who flout established legislation and allow their tenants to live in unsafe, inadequate or unhealthy conditions.
This additional funding is intended to provide further support to councils in the enforcement of tougher penalties against rogue landlords – penalties ranging from fines to bans on the worst offenders from continuing in a role as landlord.
The money may also be used by local authorities to help tenants who want to take action against unfair landlords or poor housing conditions by pursuing repayment orders and by developing technological and digital systems in support of those actions.
