East Riding Council find 31 eastern European migrant workers sleeping on the floor of rogue landlord's house

A housing officer at East Riding Council has shared some of the worst examples of neglect and disrepair facing tenants as the authority looks to clamp down on rogue landlords.
Private renting in the East Riding is increasingPrivate renting in the East Riding is increasing
Private renting in the East Riding is increasing

Private sector housing safety manager Chris Dunnachie told members of its Safer and Stronger Communities Committee his team had uncovered “horrible” practices by some landlords.

The officer said his team investigated a Goole house after one of 31 Czech and Slovakian migrant workers living there claimed their landlord told them to sleep on the floor.

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Complaints also included a Withernsea tenant’s landlord boarding up a broken window for six months without replacing the glass and dry rot “eating alive” an elderly couple’s Bridlington flat.

Mr Dunnachie said the latter case was caused by the couple’s landlord refusing to spend £200 mending a leaking gutter and that repairs later cost the council £47,000.

He added that in the Withernsea case the tenant had been too “terrified” to complain about their landlord.

Committee chair Coun Brian Skow said after the meeting one issues was that it was cheaper in some cases for landlords to pay a fine than to do repairs.

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It comes as committee members were looking at ways to strengthen the council’s enforcement of offences under the 2016 Housing and Planning Act which governs standards for private sector rentals.

The officer was seeking approval to use more of the Civil Penalty Notices created by the act, fines on rogue landlords of up to £30,000 issued without going to court.

The committee approved the proposal which is now set to go to cabinet and then full council for sign off.

Councillors heard the East Riding is currently owed around £159,070 in payments for emergency works the authority has carried out on substandard homes.

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The committee also heard four landlords had been prosecuted under the act since April 2018, with each case costing the council an average of £3,251 later won back in court.

Mr Dunnachie said success in rooting out rogue landlords depended on making it impossible for them to profit from keeping tenants in substandard rentals.

He added he expected the proportion of East Riding residents living in private rentals to grow beyond the 14 per cent recorded in the 2011 census as property prices increase.

The officer said: “Private renting is going to jump substantially, we’ve already got more people living in house shares and bedsits.

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“We’ve got some fantastic landlords in the East Riding but we also have some terrible ones. We want to look at civil penalties to get rid of rogue landlords who are out to exploit tenants.

“They should not be profiting from criminal negligence but from providing decent housing.

“The best situations are when tenants and landlords work together and we should be encouraging that. But rogue landlords need to know that we will enforce the rules and tenants need to feel that they can come forward and report them.”

Coun Skow said after the meeting: “The problem we have is even if we fine a landlord the £30,000 maximum penalty and repairs are more expensive then they take the penalty instead.”

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Committee member Coun Paul Nickerson said he was concerned vulnerable tenants were not given enough reassurance to come forward and report their landlord.

The councillor said: “The rental housing market is currently a landlords’ world. Rentals are expensive and tenants with problems are worried about moving or losing their homes if they complain.

Landlords have a lot of power over their tenants and while many are good the temptation is always there to leave repairs until it’s too late.”