Newham prosecutes 67 landlords as licensing scheme gains traction

The London Borough of Newham is currently bringing 67 prosecutions against landlords for failure to license and house in multiple occupation (HMO) offences, it has been revealed.

Statistics published by the council at the end of August showed that – since becoming the first local authority in the country to introduce a mandatory scheme to license all private rented properties – Newham has also issued 43 cautions and £300 enforcement charges for lower level failure-to-license offences.

The council has sent warning letters to 2,320 properties. Half of those properties were licensed after receipt of the first letter.

Newham said it had received more than 30,000 applications since the scheme came into force on 1 January 2013. The council has issued more than 22,000 licences.

Private landlords who have failed to apply for a licence are committing an offence, for which they can be fined up to £20,000.

Newham reported that 63 multi-agency operations had been undertaken to tackle multiple unlicensed and poor property management since the start of the year.

It claimed that one in five unlicensed properties in the borough had been found to harbour suspected criminals.

The council said at least 110 arrests had been made by police. The alleged offences included immigration, drug dealing, grevious bodily harm, theft, fraud and harassment offences.

Newham Mayor Sir Robin Wales said: "This scheme shows that Newham is leading the country when it comes to tackling bad landlords who flout the law.

"We want to ensure that private sector rented properties are well managed and meet a good standard. We also want to deal with the crime and anti-social behaviour that is sometimes associated with bad private sector rented housing.”