ACTIVISTS WELCOME LIVERPOOL CHALLENGE

Legal move may help Boris tackle housing

Boris Johnson is due back tomorrow and will hopefully soon lead the country out of lockdown. Hopefully soon after that his government will  also tackle the continued housing crisis.

Mayor Joe Anderson with Theresa May..."moral obligation"

 A legal move in Liverpool this week may prod the government in this direction and it may also  help those housing activists wanting to  end the appalling lack of accountability in social housing.

Prominent among those activists is Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation, publishers  of this blog.

For many years the Federation has fought the  absence  of accountability  in the affairs of the giant Liverpool-based Riverside Housing Association.Hopefully this legal move will help that fight.

The move is by Liverpool  City Council which has launched a legal challenge against the government over the decision not to renew its private landlord licensing scheme.

Robert Jenrick...application turned down

The council filed for a judicial review with the High Court on Friday.

In January housing secretary Robert Jenrick turned down the council`s application to keep city-wide licensing running for a further five years, until 2025.

Joe Anderson, mayor of Liverpool, said the council had “a moral obligation” to the city’s private renters to ensure the scheme continues.

Merseyside Police, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services and most residents who replied to a council consultation backed extending the scheme.

Private landlords and managing agents in Liverpool have required licences unless a statutory exemption is applied for five years, but the scheme ends on 1 April following the government’s decision to reject the council’s application to renew the scheme.

Licences were in force for 51,764 homes with 10,074 licence holders, the council said, with more than 34,000 compliance checks finding issues with 65% of properties.

Council officers uncovered 3,375 category one and two hazards through 1,971 inspections ranging from fire safety issues to serious damp and mould and severe cold, the authority said.

More than 300 successful prosecutions were brought forward through the scheme, leading to fines and, in one case, a custodial sentence.

“The decision not to renew the landlord licensing scheme was a disgrace – it defied logic and has put the lives of some of our most vulnerable tenants at risk,” Mr Anderson said.

“Over the past five years, our officers have come across people whose landlords are happy to take their rent while allowing them to live in appalling conditions with unsafe electrics, gas supply and no fire doors to protect them in the event that a blaze breaks out.

“The landlord licensing scheme has enabled us to create a team to be able to hit the streets every day and carry out inspections of properties and bring rogue landlords to book.”

Several councils – particularly in London – have started to run private landlord licensing schemes in recent years.