Rogue letting agents and landlords face higher fines, being potentially blacklisted from the property industry and being forced to repay rent taken since the start of a tenancy under proposals outlined by the government.
The forthcoming Immigration Bill will introduce a new criminal offence aimed at landlords who repeatedly fail to conduct the necessary “right to rent” checks or fail to take steps to remove illegal immigrants from their property.
The offence will carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison – a compliance sanction not to be taken lightly.
As you would expect with this type of penalty, this part of the plan to transform the private rental market has attracted the most headlines, but other proposals suggest that the government is considering wider transformation of the private rental market.
Measures in the Department for Communities and Local Government’s “Tackling rogue landlords and improving the private rental sector” paper include new powers for local authorities to seize private rentals, a “fit and proper person” test for landlords and fines against landlords for overcrowding, damp, disrepair and vermin infestations.
But it is the proposals for new civil penalties that could have the biggest impact on landlords and letting agents.
Prosecutions are rare as few local authorities have the resources to take landlords to court. But civil penalties similar to parking tickets could be issued without recourse to the courts and applied easily and widely.
Government gave £6.7m to a few local authorities to inspect 40,000 privately rented properties; the results showed 3,000 were so poor that enforcement action or prosecution were required.
The new civil penalties regime could be used both to crackdown on letting agents and landlords and increase revenue to Government at the same time.
Beware also that the press release adds that legislation will create a blacklist of rogue landlords and letting agents who persistently break the law.
