Plymouth committed to improving homes
Plymouth City Council is committed to improving private rented housing as a national list of rogue landlords is published.
Environmental Health News (EHN online) and The Guardian have published a database of landlords convicted under the Housing Act 2004 between 2006 and 2014. In Plymouth there have been two such convictions within the past five years, and the Council also recently published its Charter for Private Rented Housing which was signed up to by local landlords. The aim of the Charter is to drive up standards in private rented housing in the city, in partnership with landlords and tenants.
The EHN database published today was compiled by courts across England and Wales for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), contains hundreds of names of individuals and companies. You can view the data base here: https://public.tableau.com/profile/tom.wall#!/vizhome/LandlorddashboardT...
Councillor Chris Penberthy, Cabinet Member for Co-operatives and Housing for Plymouth City Council, said: “Most of all our local landlords work responsibly and offer a good service to their tenants, however, some don’t and we need to work to change this.
“We welcome the publication of this national database of ‘rogue landlords’ today by Environmental Health News.
“The Council has pledged to improving private rented housing in Plymouth to ensure both landlords and tenants get a better deal.
“Our Plan for Private Rented Housing and the accompanying Charter encourages local landlords to sign up and show they are serious about improving standards.”
For more information on the Charter for Private Rented Housing click here: http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/homepage/housing/privatehousing/plymouthchart...
To coincide with the publication of a database containing the names of convicted private landlords, Graham Jukes OBE, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), said:
“The publication today of the convicted private landlord’s database by EHN and the Guardian, has provided us with an opportunity to draw attention to poor housing conditions in rented accommodation. This is a serious public health issue as poor housing and overcrowding has significant detrimental impacts on health and wellbeing, especially for vulnerable people and families who are increasingly having to find accommodation from private landlords.
“Not all Landlords are bad but those on the database of prosecutions are just the tip of a very large problem and other landlords maybe putting their tenants at risk”.
“The “rogue” landlord database is an innovative and practical tool to help members of the public and local authorities identify landlords who have been prosecuted for having failed to maintain their properties to the right standards. It will be particularly helpful to the parents of young adults who may be renting accommodation for the first time as students.
“If you live in poor rented accommodation you can get help by contacting your local council’s environmental health department and if you live in property owned by landlords on this database you can find out more about why they have been prosecuted by contacting your local council or examining court records or local media reports.”
Anyone experiencing problems with a landlord of private rented property can contact the private rented housing team on 01752 307303 or email decenthomes@plymouth.gov.uk
