• Licensing landlords enables councils to investigate homes and take enforcement action 
• Enabling renters to find out easily online if their landlord is legally allowed to let out their home 
• Keeping costs low through a national register, economies of scale and more efficient linkage with other datasets 
• Increasing tax revenues by allowing HMRC to track down landlords who don’t declare rental income 
• Analysing councils with selective licensing schemes and how many unsafe homes were found 

• Maximising rental profit by deliberately undertaking multiple breaches of tenancy and housing law 
• Evading detection through the use of identity fraud and using unconventional tenancy agreements 
• Using non-standard properties or subdivided properties to increase rental yield through high-density and overcrowding 
• Examining the effectiveness of the regulatory framework in offering tenant protection from eviction and controls on property standards and management 
• Distinguishing types of criminal landlord behaviour: wilfully ignorant, corner cutters, scammers, prolific offenders and organised crime 

• Using Selective Licencing to ensure that all private rental landlords in a particular area apply to the city council for a license for each property they let out
• Ensuring that landlords meet certain standards on how their properties are managed
• Issuing landlords fines for failure to apply for a licence, breach of licence conditions and failure to comply with improvement notices
• Getting input from local people, landlords and management agents to understand whether or not proposals to extend the scheme are right for the local community

A facilitated interactive discussion with delegates, led by chair Emma Maier.

Question 1

In your opinion, where is funding and/or additional resources needed most to tackle rogue landlords?

Question 2

What areas of current legislation need consideration for change to remove rogue landlords from the PRS?

Question 3

Best Practice – please share with the group any learnings you have made in your journey in dealing with or tackling rogue landlords.

Additional resources including the addresses below are available for delegates on the platform post-event. 

Keynote Address: Getting A New Deal For The Private Rented Sector That Works For All

• Providing clarity and fairness to landlords and tenants and avoiding disputes
• Ensuring that there are clear and comprehensive grounds upon which landlords can legitimately regain possession of a property
• Improving access to dispute resolution and developing a new landlord/tenant conciliation service
• Developing a redress scheme for the sector which can improve compliance by linking to the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN)
• Reviewing enforcement of the range of powers available to tackle criminal landlords

Chris Norris, Policy Director, National Residential Landlords Association

Safe, Secure And Affordable Homes For All: A Renters’ Blueprint For Reform

• The Renters Reform Coalition is an umbrella group of 20 leading organisations supporting tenants which has come together to produce a policy blueprint ahead of the much anticipated Renters Reform Bill White Paper
• This address will discuss the blueprint and present policy solutions to improve the rights and experiences of tenants across England in the key areas of security of tenure, improving standards, addressing affordability and tackling discrimination

Anny Cullum, ACORN Strategic Development & Policy Officer, ACORN The Union