Evict a rogue Landlord - Shelter...

theartfullodger

Newham gears up...

The council has already completed eight days* focusing on rented properties that are breaking the law. Officers and the police have visited more than 100. The first 20 housing prosecutions against rogue landlords are already on the way to court.

Good!! (IMHO... others may hold alternative views...)
it carries on...

The council is determined to weed out criminal landlords who continue to flout the law and put tenants at risk. It has the capacity to prosecute more than 500 rogue landlords over the next 12 month. This would be more housing enforcement than the whole of the UK put together***

A hit list of all rented properties in the borough that are operating without a licence has been drawn up.

see..
http://www.newham.gov.uk/News/2013/February/Newhamprivaterentedpropertylicensingschemetheenforcersgoin.htm

theartfullodger

See..
http://www.westminster.gov.uk/press-releases/2013-03/westminster-council-wins-payout-from-landmark-hous/

Westminster Council wins payout from landmark housing fraud case

Tuesday, 26th March 2013

Following a landmark criminal prosecution under the Fraud Act, Westminster Council has now secured a court order to recover more than £10,000 in profits made by a former council tenant who fraudulently sub-let her central London property.

Ms Kelly-Louise Goatley was successfully prosecuted for sub-letting a council property in June 2012. She was housed by Westminster Council in 2000 as she was a priority case. But Westminster Council Fraud Investigators found that she had sub-let the flat on at least two occasions, charging more than £1,400-a-month in rent and trying to make her actions seem legitimate by hiring an estate agent.

The fraud was brought to the Council’s attention by a call to the Fraud Hotline. When the case was heard at Southwark Crown Court last year, she was jailed for nine months, which was suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 140 hours of community service.

This is the first housing case where Westminster Council has been successful in gaining a court order to make the former tenant pay up. The defendant was also ordered to pay £2,000 in costs.

Cllr Jonathan Glanz, Westminster Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Property, said: “Council properties are hard enough to find in Westminster and this woman deprived someone in real need through her selfish actions.
“This sentence and order to repay her profits sends a clear signal that subletting a council property is criminal behaviour. This tenant was both stealing from the taxpayer and stealing a housing opportunity from someone else.

“We have now been able to give this property back to someone who genuinely needs it. Westminster will always help those in real housing need, but we will also take strong action against those who believe they can play the system for profit.”

Well done Westminster! Well done whoever grassed her up!!

theartfullodger

See
http://www.cannockchasedc.gov.uk/news/article/1556/local_landlord_is_prosecuted_over_dangerous_housing_standards

Local landlord is prosecuted over dangerous housing standards

Published on Wednesday 6th March 2013
Cannock Chase Council has successfully prosecuted a local landlord for failing to manage his housing stock safely.

Baden Bishop, 74 of Little Marsh Grove, Penkridge pleaded guilty to six offences on 27 February at Stafford Magistrates Court. He was fined a total of £8,700 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £15 and court costs of £490.
Mr. Bishop owns a number of properties across Cannock Chase District and these offences were associated with the unsafe conditions at the property 102 Mill Street, Cannock.
The prosecution comes under the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation Regulations (England) 2006 and includes the following safety offences:

• Unsafe cooker switch/socket
• Unsafe light fittings
• Unsafe shower switch
• Exposed wires on lights
• A number of sub-standard fire doors
• Loose stair coverings

The Council has been working with other local agencies since 2011, to enforce the necessary improvements to the living conditions within this property.
On 3 November 2011, a multi-agency raid took place at four of Mr. Bishop’s properties in Mill Street and two of these (98-100) were immediately closed by Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service. The building contained eight small flats and was an immediate risk to life due to fire safety issues. This building still remains closed.
Whilst carrying out this operation, health and safety issues, sub-standard living conditions and overcrowding were also identified at 102 Mill Street. Since then, the Council has made several requests to make the necessary improvements to this property and have served various notices under the Housing Act. Mr. Bishop failed to comply with this enforcement action.
Due to this, Mr. Bishop has been prosecuted for failing to manage this property correctly by maintaining health and safety standards, leading to increased risks from fire, shocks and burns, and falls on stairs.
The Council has also taken action in relation to other properties managed by Mr. Bishop and these investigations are ongoing.
Councillor Frank Allen, Leader of Housing, said:
“I’m extremely pleased with the result of this case and it shows the Council’s commitment in ensuring private landlords provide a decent living environment for their tenants.
“Houses with multiple occupancies provide a valuable component to our housing stock when managed properly, however, when they pose serious health and safety risks they become a problem

theartfullodger

See..
http://www.newham.gov.uk/Pages/News/Council-winning-war-against-rogue-landlords,-new-figures-show.aspx

The war against rogue landlords is being won by Newham Council, according to new figures. They also reveal a staggering one in five unlicensed properties in the borough have been found to harbour suspected criminals.​

Newham is the first council in the country to implement a mandatory scheme to license all private rented properties. The trail-blazing scheme came into force on 1 January this year - but landlords were given a month's extension before it took effect. Over 30,000 licence applications have been received and more than 22,000 have been issued. *

Early applicants normally paid £150 for up to a five-year licence if they registered before 31 January this year. Otherwise the full fee is £500 (for up to a five year licence). Private landlords who have failed to apply are committing an offence - and could face fines of up to £20,000 per property.

This month (August), the council has released new figures which reveal that, since the beginning of February:

• 2320 properties targeted with warning letters - 50% licensed after their first letter.

• 63 multi-agency operations to tackle multiple unlicensed and poor property management have been carried out.

• 110 legal cases are currently ongoing against criminal landlords, including;
** 67 prosecutions, for failure to license and HMO (House of Multiple
Occupation) management regulation offences.
** 43 cautions and £300 enforcement charges have been issued for lower level failure-to-license offences

• In addition, at least 110 arrests have been made by police (for alleged offences including immigration, drug dealing, Grevious Bodily Harm, theft, fraud and harassment offences)

The council has consulted extensively with residents, stakeholders, private sector tenants, landlords and lettings agencies. Seventy-four per cent of residents and 76 per cent of private tenants supported the borough-wide licensing scheme.

Well done Newham!

Fire_Fox

A landlord who “wilfully ignored” the needs of tenants has been fined more than £10,000 after leaving two young families in rotting and mould-infested properties.

Two tenants of a private landlord complained to Bradford Council’s Environmental Health team about the state of their homes.

Landlord Paul Atha, of Leeds-based Atha Properties Ltd, has now been prosecuted for failing to bring the properties up to an acceptable standard.

One of his tenants, Nora Ward, lived in a three-bedroom house in Bardon Avenue, Buttershaw, Bradford, with her son Kieran Reed, 18.

Inspectors found a rotting kitchen worktop which had partially collapsed, mouldy rooms and a gas fire which was not fixed to the wall, among other problems.

Another tenant, Jane Fleming, lived in a four-bedroom house in Lastingham Green, Buttershaw, with daughters Jade, 19, and Annalisa six, son Mason Bailey, 14, and baby granddaughter Ameya Ahmed.

Inspectors found a host of problems there too, including cracked windows, a leak in the roof, mouldy rooms and outdated electrics.

At Bradford Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Atha pleaded guilty to seven counts of failing to comply with improvement notices.

Chairman of the magistrates Beryl Eakin said: “We have no evidence of any safety certificates for either property, no evidence of work being carried out prior to the tenants leaving.” She said they were fining him £3,500 for each property, as well as a £250 victim surcharge and a £2,925 contribution towards court costs, giving a total of £10,175.

The court heard that Atha would be appealing the sentence, and the matter would be heard at the Crown Court at a later date.

Outside court, Miss Fleming said baby Ameya had suffered from bronchitis, which she put down in part to the mould in the house.

Miss Ward said: “This will deter other people going to him, and other landlords doing what he has done to us. Some people might not want to speak up, but we’ve spoken up.”

Coun Val Slater, Bradford Council’s executive member for housing, said: “This case shows that Bradford Council will do all it can to ensure people renting in the private sector can expect to have their homes maintained to an acceptable standard."

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/10683162.Private_landlord_fined___10_000_over_poor_state_of_his_Bradford_houses/

theartfullodger

Following the death of a child in a fire, Landlord jailed for nine months & ordered to pay costs of £7,500: Two managing agents received respectively suspended sentence of five months, to undertake two hundred hours of unpaid work & ordered to pay costs of £2,000; 2nd agent received suspended sentence of three months, to undertake one hundred and seventy five hours of unpaid work & costs of £2,000

See..
http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/en/news/Newsreleases/Pages/prosecution-sends-message-to-landlords.aspx

Callie22

theartfullodger wrote: »

Following the death of a child in a fire, Landlord jailed for nine months & ordered to pay costs of £7,500: Two managing agents received respectively suspended sentence of five months, to undertake two hundred hours of unpaid work & ordered to pay costs of £2,000; 2nd agent received suspended sentence of three months, to undertake one hundred and seventy five hours of unpaid work & costs of £2,000

See..
http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/en/news/Newsreleases/Pages/prosecution-sends-message-to-landlords.aspx

Eleven and half grand for a life. Considering that's how much some house prices will rise in a year it seems like a tenant's life is pretty cheap.

theartfullodger

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10760917/Property-tycoon-found-guilty-of-assaulting-estate-agent.html

I particularly liked the defence approach of ...

Fergus Wilson, 65, who is 453rd in the Sunday Times Rich list and whose empire includes nearly 1,000 properties, hired Property Lettings Sales to manage 280 of them. But when a boiler in one property failed to work, 22-stone Wilson lost his temper.
.
He stormed into a PLS office in Folkestone, Kent, shouted abuse at estate agent Daniel Wells and then hit him in the head, knocking him out of his chair.
.
Wilson, a former maths teacher, said he would have been unable to hit Mr Wells because he is so fat that he is unable to tie his own shoelaces.

Cheers!

45002

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10760917/Property-tycoon-found-guilty-of-assaulting-estate-agent.html

He was ordered to pay £1,650, including £150 in compensation to Mr Wells.

Peanuts fine to him :mad:

Should have Jailed the B*****d, taking him away from his luxury life style for at least 6-12 months

theartfullodger

29 people (twenty-nine!!) in 3-bed property!!!

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/11297508.display/

A crackdown on rogue landlords in Lewisham has uncovered a dangerously over-occupied three-bedroom house lived in by 29 people.
.
Three raids in the space of two weeks also found a boarded-up restaurant had been illegally converted into six flats, while three rogue landlords involved in tax evasion had 50 properties between them.