Protecting town centres
Debenhams CVA: Josh Myerson and Andrew Haughey explain what councils and local authorities can do to protect their town centres.
Labour considers abolishing council tax for renters
04/06/2019 Labour Party is considering proposals to replace council tax with a ‘progressive property tax’, which would be payable by property owners rather than tenants. |
New guidance for enforcement officers faced with rogue landlords
09/04/2019 The housing minister has announced that two new guidance documents are now available to help local authorities crack down on rogue landlords. |
Peers recommend tax incentives for seaside landlords
04/04/2019 Landlords have welcomed a proposal by peers that they should be given tax incentives to improve their properties in seaside towns. |
Council spending on tackling ‘criminal landlords’ down a quarter
28/02/2019 The amount councils spend on tackling landlords who break the law has been cut by a quarter in recent years, according to the latest analysis. |
Whitehall must stop ‘rogue landlords’ receiving public money, council says
22/01/2019 Brent Council has urged the Government to stop rogue landlords who fail ‘fit and proper’ tests from receiving housing benefit. |
Councils failing to protect tenants from ‘rogue landlords’
29/11/2018 Tenants and good landlords are being failed by a system unable to root out criminal landlords, the results of a freedom of information request show. |
Brokenshire proposes specialist housing court
13/11/2018 The communities secretary has announced he is considering establishing a specialist housing court to deal with disputes between landlords and tenants. |
Whitehall launches selective licensing review
20/06/2018 The Government has announced it is launching a review into selective licensing to find out how well it is working. |
Councils failing to stop ‘revenge evictions’
18/06/2018 Local authorities are failing to protect private renters from ‘revenge evictions’ despite new legislation designed to protect tenants. |
Redbridge cracks down on ‘rogue landlords’ with licensing scheme
04/06/2018 The Government has given the go-ahead for the expansion of a new licensing scheme across Redbridge to help the council improve conditions for private renters. |
London’s boroughs throw weight behind ‘rogue landlord’ database
22/05/2018 All 33 of London’s boroughs have now signed up to the capital’s ‘rogue landlord checker’ database, mayor says. |
Burnham proposes ‘rogue landlord’ amnesty
25/04/2018 Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has proposed an amnesty for ‘rogue landlords’ in an attempt to drive them out of the private rented sector. |
Council chiefs call for ‘minimum’ £30,000 fine for rogue landlords
23/02/2018 Rogue landlords who commit serious housing offences should be fined a minimum of £30,000, council chiefs say. |
Database leaves dodgy landlords with ‘nowhere to hide.’
19/12/2017 The mayor of London today launched a new public online database which will enable people to check ‘dodgy’ landlords and letting agents. |
Private landlords call for help reclaiming UC rent arrears
05/12/2017 Landlords are calling for a mechanism for them to reclaim any rent arrears built up by Universal Credit (UC) claimants who move out of their property. |
MPs call for compulsory installation of CO alarms
08/11/2017 MPs yesterday called on the Government to make it illegal for a landlord not to install carbon monoxide alarms in post-Grenfell building regulations review. |
Landlords dodge nearly £200m of tax in London borough
14/08/2017 Up to 13,000 landlords in one east London borough have failed to declare their rental income to the Government, the local council has found. |
London mayor ‘names and shames’ criminal landlords with new database
26/04/2017 The mayor of London yesterday announced the launch of an online database that will ‘name and shame’ criminal landlords and letting agents in the capital. |
'Dangerous rogue landlord benefit scam' costs taxpayer millions
07/04/2017 Council chiefs are calling on the Government to close a loophole in the law which enables rogue landlords to carry out a dangerous and costly housing benefit scam. |
The March issue of Local Government News explores alternative funding channels that are available to councils beyond the Public Works Loan Board, what hurdles merging councils face in coming together, and how local government is handling GDPR.
This issue also has a special highways and street lighting section exploring how councils can use lighting to embark on their smart city journey and using IoT technology to weather the storm.
