Homeless charity Shelter has published a report claiming that 90% of surveyed EHOs (environmental health officers) “who deal directly with private renters had encountered landlords harassing or illegally evicting their tenants.”
Shelter reports that 90% have also “encountered cases of severe damp, mould, electrical or fire safety hazards in properties they investigated in the last year.” Astonishingly, one EHO described a house that had been let with no heating, hot water or electricity. Another reported a home let to a mother with children that didn’t have a kitchen.
Shelter is careful to emphasise that it’s a minority of landlords causing this misery but the charity is pressing for government and local authorities to work together and “develop a tough programme of action.” 60% of the EHOs surveyed said they thought that the motive behind letting such unsuitable properties was profit.
‘Our investigation shows just how ruthless a minority of rogue landlords can be,” said Shelter’s chief executive Campbell Robb. “But this is not just the odd crook here and there. We know there are people operating in cities up and down the county and it’s clear that this is a national problem that urgently needs a national solution.”
We find this research deeply troubling. Not just because it is stark evidence that there are private landlords out there profiting from the mistreatment of vulnerable people, but because it damages the reputation of the good guys. Most landlords we know are decent people trying to make an honest living in an often tricky environment with plenty of pitfalls and difficulties.
It does raise a question. Should good landlords welcome good regulation, enforced well if it means that the reputation of the industry as a whole was raised? Yes, red tape can be onerous and expensive to deal with but proper landlord registration, even accreditation could also bring rewards. If you and your properties were graded as 5* (for instance) and that meant you attracted better rents and the cream of the tenants, would that be an incentive?
