Manchester City Council’s executive has approved an amendment to the Corporate Enforcement Policy, to enable the council to enforce monetary penalties on landlords, letting agents and management companies in the private sector who do not sign up to a government-approved Redress Scheme.
Monetary fines are not currently not dealt with through the enforcement policy, but Manchester City Council’s move means that landlords, letting agents and management companies which do not comply could now face a fine of up to £5,000, as set out under the Redress Scheme.
The legislation came in to effect on 1 October 2014 – all letting agents and property managers, subject to certain exclusions, need to sign up to one of three government approved Redress Schemes.
The three government schemes include the Ombudsman Services Property,
the Property Redress Scheme and the Property Ombudsman.
This will make it easier for tenants and landlords to complain about poor service and prevent disputes escalating.
Local authorities will enforce the requirement and will bring about the monetary fine for failing to sign up.
Redress schemes require letting agents to follow a code of practice, offer an in house complaints procedure – and cooperate with any investigation and agree to pay compensation promptly if the redress scheme awards it.
Manchester City Council says that proactive checks of mandatory membership will be undertaken as part of licence applications for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) – and the city council will continue to investigate complaints received against unregistered landlords, agents and property managers.
Those found to be unregistered would be given one opportunity to join within 14 days of being contacted by the council, after which a notice to issue a fine will be issued.
The letting agent or property manager will then have 28 days to make written representations or objections to the authority. The city council can impose further penalties if the party continues to fail to join a scheme.
Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, Councillor Bernard Priest, said:
“Private sector tenants have been woefully underrepresented when it comes to poor standards in private properties – but we hope the Redress Schemes will allow those residents to take some control back, and give a genuine voice for complaints on an independent playing field that will ensure their issue is resolved fairly and properly.
“The Redress Schemes represent an encouraging move by the government to help protect tenants renting in the private sector – where quality standards can be a lottery – but I hope this is just a start and we see some further impactful measures to help regulate private rental properties in the near future.”
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