Councils urge reform to "hugely complex" system for prosecuting rogue landlords

The system for prosecuting rogue landlords is “hugely complex and bureaucratic with councils having to adhere to a labyrinth of laws”, the Local Government Association has claimed.

Calling for reforms to streamline a system that is “not fit for the 21st century”, the LGA suggested that a criminal minority of landlords viewed fines as ‘operating costs', to be offset against their profits from exploiting tenants by renting sub-standard properties.

Research conducted by the LGA found that it could take up to 16 months to prosecute a rogue landlord.

“In almost three-quarters of cases, the average fine for a criminal landlord – many of whom are accruing large profits every year while tenants live in dangerous conditions – was £5,000 or less,” it said.

“One landlord received a fine of £100 in a case where six tenants were left living in a property for a year without fire alarms or proper escape routes. In another example, the property did not have secured front doors and tenants discovered strangers sleeping on their sofas.”

The LGA claimed that fines were “far too inconsistent, with no correlation between housing conditions or the number of tenants involved”, and councils were “often left out of pocket because courts do not even cover the costs of prosecution”.

The Association expressed support for the Government’s recently-announced proposals to raise the limit of fines magistrates could impose, but it said it wanted them applied consistently, and proportionate to the crime and threat to life from dangerous properties.

Cllr Mike Jones, chairman of the Local Government Association's Environment and Housing Board, said: "We need a system which protects the good landlords, whose reputation is being dragged down by the bad ones.

"Councils are doing everything they can to tackle the rising levels of rogue landlords caused by the housing crisis. However, they are being hamstrung by a system wracked by delays, bureaucracy and feeble fines.”

He added: "We need a new streamlined system which is much fairer, faster, more efficient and treats the criminal abuse of tenants seriously. Prosecution in its current state simply is not seen as an effective deterrent by rogue operators.”