Issue - meetings
Non Cabinet members' debate
Meeting: 26/11/2018 - Council (Item 11)
11 Non Cabinet Members' Debate PDF 91 KB
To enable non Cabinet Members to debate an issue of relevance to Brent for which notice has been provided in accordance with Standing Order 34 and to receive reports from Cabinet members, where required, on issues previously raised.
Additional documents:
Decision:
The following motion was agreed as an outcome of the non-cabinet member debate:
This Council notes:
The important work carried out by the Private Housing Enforcement team:
· Brent has an estimated 36,000 privately rented properties. The Private Housing Enforcement team carry out between 30-40 planned inspections per week, plus an additional 10-15 unannounced inspection raids.
· Brent Council has won 140 landmark prosecution cases against rogue landlords, agents and sub-letters since 2016. The convictions have resulted in more than £1.1m in court fines and costs.
· A total of 901 PRS Properties have been improved as a consequence of their interventions, since January 2018.
· Brent Council is registered with, and a member of the Housing Ombudsman Service. We also contribute to the renters’ advice service: Advice 4 Renters, and enforcement officers give A4R’s advice leaflets to tenants when they visit. They also signpost tenants to A4R’s website, or SSP Law (solicitor firm contracted by Brent Council to advise tenants).
This despite the Council operating against a backdrop of prolonged austerity. We therefore also note:
· The average price paid for property in Brent in the last year stands at nearly half a million pounds. Consequently it is no small wonder that the proportion of people renting privately has doubled since 2004; half of 18-35s, 1 in 4 families with children, and growing numbers of older people now live in privately rented homes [1].
· That most of England’s 11 million renters are on tenancies with fixed terms of six months or a year; after this period has ended, landlords can evict their tenants with just two months’ notice, without giving them a reason. These ‘no fault evictions’ were introduced under Section 21 of the 1988 Housing Act; before this, renters had much greater security and it was difficult for landlords to evict tenants who paid the rent on time and looked after the property.
· Evictions are the number one cause of homelessness with 80% of evictions on no-fault grounds, and 63% of private renters who were forced to move in 2016 evicted not due to any fault of their own but because the landlord wanted to sell or use the property [2,3,4].
· The recent Guardian and ITV investigation into rogue landlords operating in Brent, and note how a number of these criminals wilfully exploit loopholes within existing legislation.
· The London Mayor’s online “rogue landlord checker” is available to all Londoners and has received more than 1,000 entries from local authorities.
· That Karen Buck MP’s private members bill on “Homes (fitness for human habitation)”, which seeks to require that residential rented accommodation is provided and maintained in a state of fitness for human habitation. We also welcome the progress of the tenants’ fees bill through Parliament.
This Council believes:
· That housing is intrinsically linked to poverty and life chances. Children need secure homes from which to excel in their schooling. Adults need a secure home in order to work, flourish, and take part in society to their fullest potential.
· The Government has been ... view the full decision text for item 11
Minutes:
In accordance with Standing Order 34, the Mayor advised that the subject chosen for the Non Cabinet Member debate was on the Private Rented Housing Sector.
Members were advised that the motion submitted as the basis for the debate had been circulated with the supplementary agenda for the meeting and that the time available for the debate was 30 minutes. The Mayor then invited Councillor Donnelly-Jackson to introduce the motion. As context for the debate, Councillor Donnelly-Jackson highlighted there were an estimated 36,000 privately rented properties in Brent. Whilst the Private Housing Enforcement Team was undertaking important work in carrying out inspections and had recently secured a number of significant prosecutions against rogue landlords which had attracted national media attention, their resources were increasingly stretched as a result of the Government’s current climate of austerity. Highlighting her personal experiences of living in private rented accommodation within the borough, which she pointed out were experiences shared by many others, Councillor Donnelly-Jackson was keen to seek the Council’s support in ensuring private rented sector tenants had access to appropriate advice alongside the promotion of renters unions. In addition she was keen for local MPs to be encouraged to support Karen Buck MP in the House of Commons debate she was sponsoring on 6 December 18 regarding the use of section 21 evictions in the private rented sector. She therefore urged all members to support the motion put forward for debate.
The Mayor then opened up the debate to other Members, with the following comments made during the discussion that followed.
Councillor Johnson, speaking in support of the motion, advised that he had also been responsible for raising a number of concerns direct with the Mayor for London, as a member of Citizens UK, regarding the operation of rogue landlords in the private rented sector. A number of these concerns had been recognised by the Mayor of London who as a result had established an online “rogue landlord checker” system. Councillor Johnson was also supportive of the need for more consistent regulation of landlords. Whilst noting the efforts made in Brent with the introduction of the mandatory licensing scheme for HMOs and selective landlord licensing in certain wards he was keen to ensure this was rolled-out across the whole borough in order to ensure landlords could be properly held to account. Alongside these initiatives he highlighted the importance in addressing the demand for the supply of genuinely affordable housing as another means of mitigating the concerns highlighted for action.
Councillor Long, also spoke in support of the motion, highlighting concerns around the support available to tenants particularly those renting without any form of tenancy agreement. Whilst the Council had introduced a landlord licensing scheme she pointed out that the focus of the scheme was in managing the physical standard of properties rather than on how tenants were being treated. As with Councillor Donnelly-Jackson she also highlighted a number of specific examples in terms of practices operated by rogue landlords and how difficult it ... view the full minutes text for item 11