Ministry issues further resources to help councils enforce against rogue landlords, letting agents
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published further resources for a toolkit that aims to help local authorities enforce against rogue landlords and letting agents.
The resources comprise an interactive learning module and a knowledge bank of technical questions and answers.
They are intended to complement the Ministry’s refreshed guidance launched in April 2019.
The MHCLG said: “The toolkit facilitates the development and application of enforcement expertise to a range of scenarios. It offers guidance to local authorities about taking a sustainable approach to enforcement and will help them develop an action plan going forward.”
The knowledge bank is made up of detailed answers to questions raised by local authority enforcement officers, including during a nationwide programme of training and knowledge-sharing workshops held in early 2019.
The Ministry said the questions covered topics including environmental concerns, regulatory issues, and landlord and tenant behaviour. These answers were authored and reviewed by subject matter experts, it added.
The interactive learning tool meanwhile contains:
- a knowledge check section which helps enforcement officers to quickly assess their existing awareness of enforcement guidance and legislation on rogue landlords
- a scenario section which enables enforcement officers to apply their knowledge to a range of different cases, such as when dealing with overcrowding or houses in multiple occupation
- a guided exercise aimed at supporting local authority officers to implement their enforcement strategy in a practical way
- further information on guidance and policy support available to local authorities regarding enforcement issues
More information on the resources can be found here.
