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Banned! Landlord cannot let property until major improvements made

An unnamed landlord has been banned from letting out his property after allowing it to fall into poor condition. 

He was served with a Prohibition Order by Newcastle council after failing to carry out essential maintenance on the five-bedroomed house in the city. 

A couple and their nine children had to be moved out and placed in emergency accommodation by the authority.

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The house had defective double glazing, missing balusters on the staircase which could cause trips and falls, leaking pipework, holes in the ceiling, damp, mould, insecure front and back doors, no hot water supply in the kitchen, and no smoke detector in the ground floor hallway.

Rats had also gnawed their way through electrical cabling making the electricity supply unsafe and knocking out the heating system leaving the family with no heating or hot water.

The tenants turned to the council after their landlord failed to respond to their requests to deal with the serious disrepair and infestation. When he failed to comply with requests by the authority to carry out the repairs, it served him the Prohibition Order under the Housing Act 2004.

He must now refurbish the property to the council’s standards before it will consider lifting the order and allowing the property to be rented out again.

A council spokesperson says: “This is a shocking example of a landlord failing to fulfil his legal obligations. My heart goes out to the family who lived there and endured appalling living conditions.

 

“Thankfully they are now in accommodation that is clean, warm, and safe – not a lot to ask for in the 21st century it would seem, however, some landlords are failing in their duty of care to provide anything like decent living conditions.

“In Newcastle we are determined to raise standards in the private rented sector – a growing and increasingly important part of the housing market.

“We have worked with landlords, the vast majority of which are good, to introduce a property licensing scheme - but instances like this just underline the value of these schemes.

“Landlords who fail to maintain basic living standards should be aware that we won’t hesitate to step in and use our powers to stop them renting out their properties.”

It is estimated that over 50,000 properties in the city are privately rented of which approximately 14,500 require a licence.

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  • Tanya  Campbell

    Where can landlords go for help if they are struggling? What help is available?

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    There is i suspect more to this such as the council is looking for tenants to fill their own accommodation. How much of this 'disrepair ' is down to the tenants? Would the council be that conscientious in undertaking repairs caused by their tenants malicious damage. I am not saying that any damage was caused by the tenants as I do not know the facts of the case. They have now given what most tenants want a council house.

    It would have been faster and I suspect cheaper for the council to have repaired the property and taken the cost out of the rent than going to the time and expense of moving the family so why did they not do this?

    The hiphoprisy of some cows is amazing

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    'Placed in emergency accommodation' - given the size of the family and the lack of LA housing of this size I would guess it is not particularly permanent or even suitable accommodation.

     
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    Councils are most certainly NOT looking for tenants to fill their properties. There is an abundance of applicants for council houses to the point that supply won't demand, probably ever. Councils don't need to go looking for them. Now you want the tax payer funded councils to carry out a landlord's responsibilites and take the cost back out of the rent?? What planet are you on??

     
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    He's on Planet Earth, where real people with real jobs abilities and responsibilities subsidise those with totally unrealistic expectations, exacerbated by a lack of common sense and willingness to take responsibility for their own actions or lack of them.

    Why should those who caused property damage not have to pay for it, even if it takes the rest of their pointless miserable lives?

    This landlord is being accused of "allowing the property to fall into disrepair".

    Disrepair doesn't just happen and isn't caused by anyone other than residents, usually those who abuse the property.

    In over 70 years in living in properties, I've never broken any toilet seats, doors, windows or light fittings - but I have lost count of how many I have fixed due to carelessness and abuse by tenants.

    Incidentally, most of these wasters are not tax payers, unlike the landlords you vilify.

     
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    Guys who father 9 kids and can't afford to keep a roof over their heads should have a small operation ASAP - in fact it should have been done seven kids ago!

    Theodor Cable

    What about instant Euthanasia?
    It would certainly be merciful for the rest of the country?

     
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    ROP?

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    Max Boyne it does not sound like you are a landlord. Come and spend some time working with me and you will come up with a different opinion. Repairing the property is a practical solution it saves the cost and time of enforcement which is expensive and slow. As you say say why rehouse the family in emergency accommodation it is not cheap

    It depends which area you operate in I have had council's knocking on my tenants doors asking the tenant if they wished to be rehoused in a council flat.

    I and other landlords will tell you that tenants have come to them asking for their eviction papers as their council's have told them not to pay the rent, get evicted and they will be rehoused by the council! I should add that the council has always vehemently denied this but it has happened too often for it not to be true.

    Wake up, who is the biggest competitor to the private sector? It is the council and there are too many in the council who believe they should be the only provider of housing for the workers and the unemployed.

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