Housing Solicitors

Bristol City Council has been awarded additional funding from the Home Office to help it criminal landlords and protect tenants.

The Home Office has given the council £321,750 from the Controlling Migration Fund, to help drive up standards in the private rented sector over the next two years.

The council says that migrants are over-represented in the private rented sector in Bristol, particularly in properties in poor condition.

The council now plans to use the government funding to conduct intelligence work to identify and target rogue landlords in the city – and take enforcement action where necessary.

The council says it investigates unsafe houses and flats every day – but usually it relies on tenants reporting poor conditions. However, this means some landlords get away with not complying with the law because their tenants do not come forward.

The council is now actively encouraging tenants to come forward if they have concerns about the conditions of their rented properties, which they have not been able to resolve with their landlord.

Bristol City Council Cabinet Member for Homes, Councillor Paul Smith, said:

“Across the city, people are finding it increasingly difficult to access decent, affordable homes.

“In Bristol, we are working hard to tackle criminal landlords – and through this extra funding, we expect to see a reduction in the number of these criminal landlords letting out poor-quality accommodation and exploiting tenants.

“Making sure that everyone in Bristol has a safe, comfortable place to call home is one of our key priorities – and we are doing all we can to make this a reality.

“We intend to use all enforcement powers at our disposal, where appropriate.”

The council says the new funding will also enable the private housing team to recruit three new officers to carry out this additional work – the officers will work with partners, including Avon and Somerset Police and Immigration Compliance Enforcement (ICE), to identify properties where there are likely to be high levels of exploitation and trafficking.

Officers will carry out proactive inspections of these premises, using their powers of entry to gain access to all dwellings.

The team will also respond to complaints and enquiries from tenants and members of the public.

It is estimated that approximately 1,200 inspections will be undertaken over the two-year period – equivalent to approximately 312 streets being covered across the city.

In 2016, the council was awarded money from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to carry out similar work targeting criminal landlords.

During this time, the private housing team inspected 153 individual properties, served 20 enforcement notices and carried out four prosecutions.

Duncan Lewis Housing Solicitors

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