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An important Bill that seeks to get rid of rogue landlords is about to have its second reading in parliament. The Bill, introduced by Dame Angela Watkinson, has taken on board Residential Landlords Association proposals to enable local authorities to use information on Council Tax forms for the identification of criminal landlords.
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Naturally the RLA is delighted about this.
RLA Supports Bill
According to Alan Ward, chairman of the RLA:
“The RLA welcomes and strongly supports Dame Angela’s Bill. This Bill sends a powerful message to criminal landlords that you can run but you cannot hide. For too long, a minority of landlords, operating under the radar, have been able to cause misery for their tenants and have been left unchecked by local authorities whose resources are too stretched. It will be more effective than a landlord register, or licensing, in identifying rented properties.”
Simple to Implement
As Dame Angela says, the best bit about this Bill is that it is incredibly simple to implement. All councils have to do is include a couple of extra questions on a council tax registration form. Since tenants have to know the name of their landlord when they sign a tenancy agreement, they will be able to disclose this to their local authority.
All information collected on Council tax forms can be cross referenced with other information and used to detect any illegal activity, such as benefit fraud and maintaining HMOs without the appropriate licenses in place.
