Issue - meetings

To set the context as to how the Council intends to meet the private sector housing challenges and opportunities confronting the service and to set out the key priorities for action and delivery (report of the Assistant Director - Wellbeing and Community Leadership enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Wellbeing and Community Leadership which set the context as to how the Council intended to meet the private sector housing challenges and opportunities which confronted the service and to set out the key priorities for action and delivery.

The Service Manager for Safer Communities attended to present the report and the Portfolio Holder for Strategic and Operational Housing attended to support the item.

The Service Manager for Safer Communities introduced the report and highlighted the following main areas:

• Background to the report, including that:
  • Following a decision supported by Full Council at a meeting held on 15 May 2024, the three Housing Standards Teams from BBC, ELDC & SHDC were brought together to operate as one single team across the partnership area with shared working arrangements;
  • The service realignment had provided resilience within the partnership. Working processes were also being aligned; and
  • The Private Sector Housing Strategy being considered at the current meeting represented the next stage of development for the service.
• The report outlined the strategy’s four key priorities and four outcome-based commitments at points 2.1 and 2.2 respectively;
• The S&ELCP Private Sector Housing Strategy was at Appendix 1; and
• Guidance and definitions were at Appendix 2.

Members considered the report and made the following comments:

• Members welcomed the clarity and content of the document particularly regarding empty properties and queried whether the strategy would support such properties being brought back into use.
  • The Service Manager for Safer Communities responded that:
    • A document to be presented across the partnership would provide wide-ranging options for each of the three councils in respect of empty properties and any impact directly correlated with the ambitions and commitments of each sovereign council;
    • A mapping exercise to identify empty properties was to take place throughout the partnership which would involve liaising with Council Tax colleagues, members and communities; and
    • The council would have an extensive toolkit to deal with the unique circumstances of each case.

• Members queried the processes to be used to ensure that rogue landlords were identified.
  • The Service Manager for Safer Communities responded that:
    • With the exception of licenced Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) where a duty of inspection prevailed, there was no legal requirement for landlords to register with the local authority. Non-registered properties would therefore only be inspected as a result of a complaint or where concerns relating to other properties belonging to the same landlord came to the council’s attention;
    • The Safer Communities team worked closely with internal service areas, such as Planning, Waste Services, Homelessness and Environment Health, and external partners such as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Police, estate agents, Fire and Immigration Services to assist with the identification of rogue landlords;
    • Any landlord identified as rogue would be registered as such. A number of enforcement tools were available to prevent such individuals from becoming landlords in the future; and
    • Through the utilisation of a strict criteria assessment process, two rogue landlords had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61