Rogue landlords should have their properties compulsorily purchased and converted to social housing

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Guardian link about a complete scumbag rogue landlord.

Chris Betts MP I'm relieved to see is demanding confiscation of properties from these people if found criminally liable or unfit to be a landlord.

But I'd like to see those places made into a new social housing stock. Maybe on a cooperative model.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/15/i-was-afraid-of-him-renting-from-one-of-londons-worst-landlords

It won’t work if they are subletting them though like this nasty POS did.

Apparently there is a legal framework for confiscating property. I think the council should use it much more often.

I totally agree with this premise actually.

Not until landlords are allowed to remove rogue tenants without going through massive legal hoops.

Massive legal hoops - such as issuing a section 21 notice and then evicting via a court process?

How much easier would you like it to be to put people out on the street?

This government has been promising to remove section 21 so that a landlord has to give a reason, but somehow hasn't managed to do so.

In the meantime, shitbags like this man have been getting rich exploiting people.

If you're going to allow compulsory purchase for "evil landlords" then the same time scales must be followed for evicting bad tenants.

I agree. There need to be real consequences. Many of these landlords are horribly exploitative on a large scale.
This would help redress the huge power imbalance.

You already have a process to evict bad tenants.

It’s not realistic but as a concept yes, I like your idea.

I’ve nothing but contempt for shitty LLs. There ought to be really big financial penalties for them.

Same timescale? Fine with me. This guy was previously convicted and banned from being a landlord but kept hold of his properties and got someone else to front them. He should have lost all his properties to the council except one to live in. Obviously it would have been a huge job to convert them to dwellings fit for human habitation but they could by now be housing people decently from the housing list and being an income stream for the council.

I don't see why it's not realistic. We're not talking about normal landlord/tenant relationships here. The man is a slumlord. Apparently the law already exists. This government along with its general uselessness has not managed any kind of housing reform. They haven't even stopped Right to Buy.

Agreed. Councils should be able to purchase neglected and abandoned houses too.

So true @Summerhillsquare. I took a wrong turning the other day and found myself next to a detached empty house quite visibly falling apart. No idea what the story is there but in one of the most unaffordable counties in the country it KILLS me to see wasted and empty houses.

I wonder if one of the issues is the incredible delays in probate processing. I can imagine someone applying for probate, stuck and then dying exile waiting for it!

Writing to my MP and my Councillor about this.

It can take up to a year to evict tenants who pay no rent, abuse the neighbours, steal fixtures and fittings and wreck the house. It can cost tens of thousands of pounds. It often requires multiple court hearings, (there's usually a reason why the bailiffs won't be sent). Then landlord has to spend tens of thousands to put it right. It's disingenuous to say it's simply a question of issuing a S21.

I'm not making a point on the suggestion about landlords - just making a point about the process of removing tenants.

but then the council would need to pay to bring the properties up to standard.

given that local housing stock is also sometimes substandard it's nt going to happen. should the council confiscate their own stock ?

This really annoys me. There's a cottage in our village (Wales) been empty for 20 years, family who inherited won't sell even though they've had offers.

I've been a landlord. The rules haven't changed. I could evict. I had insurance for damage.

The landlord has far more power than the tenant.

slight derail but the reason there’s a massive shortage of rental properties now is because it’s become so difficult and unaffordable to be a landlord.

If we want a thriving rental market then there needs to be wholesale reform to make it work for everybody.

That's not why.

It is because more money can be made from short term and unregulated rentals like AirBnB.

Plus virtually no new social lets are built.

We absolutely need to regulate landlords more, tax holiday properties more, and build social housing for rent.

Unless the Tories got rid of it, there is a law that allows something like this. Councils may take over empty properties, renovate them and rent them to people on the council housing list. Once they have recouped the money spent, use of the property is handed back to the owner.

Well yes, unfortunately running a business comes with costs. I worked for an organisation renting properties. We factored those costs in to our business plans. The issue is amateur landlords who think their rental income should be pure profit

(and rogue landlords who deliberately set out to exploit the most vulnerable of course)

@MidnightOnceMore - I’m not sure, although I agree with you that the Airbnb market is a factor. I know lots of amateur landlords who decided to rent out their first flats/starter homes many years ago, and they’ve all sold up in the last couple of years because it just got too hard and they couldn’t cope with all the bureaucracy.

There is and it should be used when the property is owned by the bad landlord but in this case it wasn't!! He was renting then illegally subletting

This already exists!! They don't patrol the streets looking for them though get hassling your local representative