Landlord & Buy-to-Let Magazine | Page 3

06 26 Majority of tenants ignore tenancy clauses Immigration plans encourage landlords to discriminate against lawful tenants Penalty points Rogue landlords could soon face custodial sentences for putting tenants’ lives at risk. Proposals put forward by the Local Government Association (LGA) include custodial sentences, increased fines for rogue landlords and a blacklist of persistent offenders. According to the LGA, who represent 370 councils in England and Wales, fines currently issued to landlords have the same effect as fining a Premiership footballer £1,000 for speeding. The footballer comparison is headline grabbing, but it rather misses the point that speeding fines are almost always issued with penalty points. One too many penalty points and even a Premier footballer with the best loophole lawyer in the land may have to hang up the keys to the Range Rover if they repeat offend. Currently, criminal landlords know there is little to stop them. Rogue landlords make tenants’ lives a misery; their business model, if you can call it that, is to get away with as little investment of time and money as possible, for the most gain. Yet unlike other criminals, they are not hiding in the shadows; they receive housing benefit income from their tenants, their interests in the properties are registered at Land Registry, they Published by: Issue 61 September 2015 ISSN 1753-2744 Wealth Media LLP t/a PropertyNet.media 117 Chestergate Macclesfield Cheshire SK11 6DP t: 01625 511151 Free Subscription www.landlordnet.co.uk IN THIS ISSUE ... 2–26 Industry news including: • R ent rises retreat but UK average year-on-year rise maintains double figures • A ssociation reaches 20,000 members • Tenants believe landlords are fair and helpful – but could improve on safety advertise for tenants openly and file tax returns. The NLA is calling for a crosscutting multi-disciplinary task force with the power and resources to make a difference. They have a point. Currently, councils focus on the property rather than the offender. A cross-cutting approach with investigatory power could look at all the offender’s activities instead of the property by property approach. Criminal landlords should live in fear of the dawn raid, prosecution, the prison sentence and the confiscation of assets obtained through the proceeds of their crimes – just like any other career criminal. • Ealing ‘beds in sheds’ demolished 14 Cardiff Landlord & Letting Show 2015 28  Opinion Counts – Richard Lambert Tougher sanctions for criminal landlords…yes please! 30  Ask Tom – Council licensing fee concerns SOCIAL MEDIA ... Get up-to-date news and join in with debates surrounding all of the industry's hottest topics ... Join the 'PropertyNet.media' Group Follow @PropertyNetGang Oliver Romain, Editor Like 'PropertyNet.media' Director Emma Silcock [email protected] Marketing Jo Ensby [email protected] Advertising Anthony Pardue [email protected] Sales Director Mark Hutchinson [email protected] Administration Pauline Clewley [email protected] Roy Parrish [email protected] Editor Oliver Romain [email protected] Administration Jenni Hutchinson [email protected] Credit Control Kathryn Evans [email protected] Registered as a magazine © Wealth Media LLP. All rights reserved. Neither this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise - without prior permission of Wealth Media LLP. Published monthly. Landlord & Buy-to-Let magazine are registered trademarks of Wealth Media LLP. First published in 2007. Landlord & Buy-to-Let Issue 61 • September 2015 1