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Council toughens up enforcement on rogue landlords

A new policy to toughen up enforcement of housing in the private rented sector to drive up standards for Plymouth renters has been approved.

The Civil Penalties Policy, first adopted in March 2019, sets out clear enforcement consequences that the Council is be able to bring against landlords who do not meet their legal responsibilities to their tenants.

Since its launch, 17 Civil Penalty Notices, totalling nearly £90,000 have been served on landlords for poor housing standards and eight landlords have received CPNs for failing to comply with a notice requiring improvements to rented property or failing to licence a house in multiple occupancy.

Councillor Chris Penberthy, Cabinet for Housing and Co-operative Development said: “We know that the vast majority of landlords in Plymouth are good and take care of their properties, but there are far too many poor-quality homes. We promised that we would toughen up enforcement of housing in the private rented sector to drive up standards for renters and I’m confident that this policy does that. It is yet further success, too, for our Plan for Homes which while primarily is about building new houses, is also about improving and securing housing that is already available.”

In order to enforce both this and other relevant policies, the Council undertakes inspections. Since April 2018 the council have inspected over 1,700 dwellings, removed 350 category one hazards and undertaken multiple other actions to improve living conditions and tenant’s safety.

The money collected from the CPN goes back into increasing resources in the private rental sector to enable us to further engage with landlords to improve the city’s rented housing stock.

The new policy isn’t just about enforcement the council is keen to work with landlords to ensure they are aware of their responsibilities and provide safe and good quality housing to their tenants. This policy acts as a driver to improve tenant’s safety and drive away poor landlords.

The Council will continue to develop the Private Rented Partnership Group to drive a consistent and equitable approach in the private rented sector. As well as working with partners to increase Private Rented Sector intelligence ensuring resources are directed correctly and residents are supported.

Residents who live in private rented accommodation and have concerns regarding the property that they live in can contact Community Connections, Housing Enforcement Team via the Plymouth City Council website where housing improvement service requests can be made.

This decision has been made under delegated authority and is subject to call in.