Private Landlord Licensing
Debate between Gloria De Piero and Stephen TimmsWestminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
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Stephen Timms
There certainly is some bad practice around, as the Secretary of State has acknowledged.
The Newham scheme expires at the end of next month. The council applied in July to reauthorise it. I urge the Minister to permit the reauthorisation of the scheme and to do so soon—the Department’s guidance specifies eight weeks for making such decisions and we are now a good way past that—to ensure that the gap between the current and reauthorised schemes can be kept to a minimum.
Under the Newham scheme, landlords are required to register the homes they rent with the council and to agree to conditions to ensure the homes are safe, of a good standard and properly managed. The scheme gives the council additional powers to enforce standards because failure to license or comply with the terms of a licence constitutes an offence. In extreme cases, the council can ban the worst landlords from operating altogether.
Gloria De Piero (Ashfield) (Lab)
My right hon. Friend is making a powerful speech. I add my congratulations to Ashfield District Council. The licensing scheme is now in operation in Stanton Hill and New Cross. Landlords have to take responsibility for the safety of their tenants through smoke detection, insulation and wiring—those improvements must be made. These councils are leading the way.
Stephen Timms
My hon. Friend is right and I share in her congratulations to Ashfield District Council.
In five years, Newham has banned 28 landlords. With the great majority of landlords, everything is fine, but there are powers available to intervene when things go wrong. The Newham scheme is widely supported by local residents, the Mayor of London, the borough police and the fire service. A crucial aspect of the scheme is its support of important enforcement work by central Government agencies. For example, the council emailed all licensed landlords jointly with HMRC soon after introducing the scheme with advice about getting the landlords’ tax affairs up to date. That and other joint work between the council and HMRC since then, which has been possible only because of the scheme, has led to the identification of significant previously undisclosed rental income. The fight against tax evasion requires the scheme to be reauthorised.
There has been joint work with the Home Office. Immigration Enforcement said that the collaboration with the Newham scheme has been
“an effective and productive workstream in terms of addresses that are being used by illegal migrants.”
The Minister will not want that work to be undermined. There has also been excellent joint working with the London fire brigade, which says:
“The property licensing scheme in Newham has saved lives and injury to people. The London Fire Brigade therefore supports the Newham application to continue licensing private rented properties, and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership.”
The Minister is no doubt spending a great deal of time reflecting on the lessons of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. One of those lessons must be the need for effective local vigilance against fire risks in homes.
The Metropolitan police work very closely with the housing team in the borough on enforcement work. In the five years of the scheme, officers have made 752 arrests through licensing operations for a whole range of criminal offences. In reflecting on that, the Metropolitan police have also formally supported the Newham scheme. They say that it has
“assisted the police in dealing with crime, both operationally and through the utilisation of joint intelligence…if the Government is serious about having the tools to fight crime then it must allow Newham to continue its excellent work against criminal landlords.”
The Minister has no interest in giving the green light to wrongdoers, so when crime is rising and the activities facilitated by rogue landlords are a significant part of the problem, it is not the time to block enforcement powers that the police have found so valuable.