BREAKING: Chancellor fails to obtain licence for rental home
Rachel Reeves's position under threat after admitting she had failed to obtain a licence for her Dulwich property.
It has been reported that Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been forced to refer herself to the Government’s ethics watchdog after it was revealed that she has been renting out her family home without first obtaining a licence.
Her cabinet role is said to now be in jeopardy after what she claims was an “inadvertent mistake”.
According to the BBC, after moving into 11 Downing Street, Reeves began renting out her property in Dulwich, South London, for £3,200 a month last year. However, the property was in an area where Southwark Council requires private landlords to hold a ‘selective licence’ to rent out their properties.
Reeves unaware
A spokesperson for Reeves claimed she was unaware of the requirement, as her letting agent had failed to advise her about it, and she has now applied for a licence.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, however, has called for a “full investigation”, saying in a social media post that if the Chancellor broke the law, the Prime Minister must “show he has the backbone to act”.
It is especially embarrassing for the Government after Angela Rayner had already been forced to resign after failing to pay the correct Stamp Duty on her new Hove flat.
Southwark won’t tolerate rogue landlords who ignore their legal responsibilities.”
Fines for unlicensed rental properties can be as high as £30,000, but if the case goes to court, they can be unlimited.
And Southwark Councillor Natasha Ennin, Cabinet Member for Community Safety & Neighbourhoods, recently said of those who fail to license their properties that it would “not tolerate rogue landlords who ignore their legal responsibilities.”
Emails have emerged from the REEVES family back and fore to Agents with Reeves asking how much the Agents would charge for submitting the application.
So there’s ‘ No error or forgetting by EITHER Agent or Reeves.
Seems Rachel from Accounts didn’t want to pay the letting agents fee for completing the License application.
“ignorantia juris non excusat ” if she can break this fundamental principle, then so can everyone!
Rachel Reeves has committed a strict liability crime under section 95 of the Housing Act 2004 (failure to SELECTIVE licence a property) with unlimited fines if prosecuted in court. Alternatively councils can issue a civil financial penalty up to £30,000 (and keep the money).
Councils treat this as one of the most heinous crimes possible and we see dozens of small landlords every week fined often between £12,000 to £20,000 for this exact same criminal offence.
Just like speeding, it is a strict liability crime and there is no defence of “I didn’t know” or my letting agent didn’t tell me. Councils are absolutely merciless in prosecuting small landlords because for them, fining landlords has become a major revenue stream.
Will Reeve’s apology get her off the hook. It certainly wouldn’t get any one else who rented out their former family home and didn’t licence it. Council’s see these landlords as low hanging fruit for their revenue.
And let’s be clear we see hundreds of examples each month where councils leave tenants in danger whilst they concentrate on getting their pound of flesh from the landlord. Note councils concentrate on small landlords not the real rogues because hey never actually get cash from the rogues!
The whole licensing and enforcement environment in private sector housing is toxic and corrupt. (“Dear Council: keep as much fine money as you can raise” was never going to lead to a fair system and has in fact become an effective land grab as councils take ever bigger slices of the equity of small landlords.)
Also councils go out of their way to persuade tenants to make a rent Repayment Order for 12-months rent back (shortly to be 24-months under the new Renters Reform Act.
Will the full merciless weight of the law with civil penalty fines and rent repayment orders bear down on our chancellor as it does on every other landlord who didn’t realise they needed a licence?
We wait with bated breath – and of course Landlord Licensing & Defence would be happy to defend Ms Reeves to the full extent the law allows!
(As we do for all ‘I didn’t know’ Landlords who get the wrong side of the insidious PRS enforcement fiasco via https://landlordsdefence.co.uk/pr10 )
When Government officials both national and local make decrees about “cleaning up” this or that, they never mean to include themselves. This is the real ‘two tier’ system, nothing to do with race or religion just perceived elitism on their part.
Ignorance of the law is not an excuse I’m afraid. Especially not for a cabinet member who is in charge of our country’s money.
The selective licensing scheme which allows Councils to designate areas within their control that need help in improving the quality of rental property in that specific defined area has never worked as intended and New selected licence schemes are now very rare. However my reading of the Renters Rights Act is that ALL rental property has to be registered. This will help the councils and HMRC to control private landlords and discourage new entrants into letting their properties. Mark my words within 2 years their will be generous schemes introduced to reward people to let their spare homes if only to provide homes for new immigrants.