Homes seized from landlord after complaints ignored

A private landlord who ignored tenants' complaints has had their properties seized by a local authority.

Merton Council took action after the landlord failed to provide adequate services to residents in its 18 private properties for more than a year.

This is the first time the local authority has used powers under the Housing Act 2004 and is among the first in the country to do so.

The law means that the rents will be diverted to pay for the repairs with the remaining money handed over to the landlord.

Cabinet member for housing, Andrew Judge, says Merton intends to use these powers more regularly in the future.

He said: "The legislation has been in place for 20 years, there’s been very little use by local authorities. We’re going to use them."

This move was also made possible by the council’s own introduction of its Selective Licensing Scheme, introduced last year.

This means that all privately rented homes in Figges Marsh, Graveney, Longthornton and Pollards Hill wards must now be licensed under the scheme.

This empowers the council to tackle poor property conditions and antisocial behaviour in these areas, and it follows consultation with residents.

The properties in question were all located within the Graveney ward, and thus qualified.

Tenants' complaints largely related to allegedly poor repair services.

The council was able to build up a case against the landlord after officers issued several notices to them, but were ignored for months.

Mr Judge said: "In order to protect the interests of the residents we took out this order.

"That means we have appointed agents to manage the properties, all rents will be received by the council and we will be applying them to ensure these are safe and decent properties.

"Increasingly, many tenants live in an exploited position. Whether it’s by way of disrepair that is not properly dealt with or rents being hiked to unacceptable levels."

The agents appointed by the council will be in place for the next 12 months.

Once repairs are made, the remaining money will be returned to the landlord who is still responsible to pay the mortgage on the properties.

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