Photo: Poor living conditions, Bridge Street, Southport
Southport and Sefton Borough as a whole area being ignored when it comes to government cash to tackle rogue landlords.
Forty-eight councils across the country will share £5million funding to help them take on the irresponsible landlords that force tenants to live in squalid and dangerous properties, making their lives a misery.
Liberal Democrats in government made taking on rogue landlords a priority. Since 2011 nearly 40,000 property inspections took place in properties with over 3,000 landlords facing further enforcement action or prosecution.Lib Dem Deputy Leader said:
“Here in Southport we have some really excellent private landlords – both diligent and responsible and even caring.. We also have others who are totally ‘the pits’. There is now some protection for tenants against retaliatory eviction where they have a legitimate complaint and landlords cannot now include open-ended eviction notice at the start of a tenancy.
Councillor Dawson has sometimes had to intervene with the Council to get them to close down properties either permanently or until hideous damp and water penetration issues are sorted out.
He says:
“Rogue landlords that exploit vulnerable people and force their tenants to live in overcrowded and squalid accommodation need to be stopped in their tracks.
“Poor quality, overcrowded and dangerous accommodation let by rogue landlords can sometimes create a ripple effect of wider problems in the local community such as noise problems; sanitation issues for whole roads; greater fire risk; council tax and benefit fraud and anti-social behaviour such as street drinking. Some times poor housing conditions are quoted as an unacceptable excuse for bad behaviour by individual tenants. We must cut out any reason for this form of excuse.”
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