Tenant advocacy group Acorn is calling for zero tolerance for rogue landlords after Oxford City Council received 430 complaints from tenants, yet only served 18 improvement notices over the last twelve months.

Naomi Gann, lead organiser of the tenant activist group in the South East, told the Oxford Mail: “Our members have faced really shocking treatment in Oxford, and have been left to live in dangerous homes, with things like serious damp and mould and collapsing ceilings.

“They’ve also been victims of revenge eviction, when people are thrown out of their homes by their landlords and given a ‘no fault’ eviction, just for raising complaints with them.

“Oxford City Council are not doing enough to protect renters from this really appalling treatment.

The council at the moment is siding with criminal landlords instead of renters, and this is something we won’t stand for.”

She complains that, rather than issuing formal notices that compel the landlords to do the repairs, they are issuing informal notices, even with really serious complaints.

She says: “We’ve raised these issues with the council many times, and these changes are well within their power to do, but so far, the lead on housing is refusing to make these changes.

“As far as we’re concerned, the council at the moment is siding with criminal landlords instead of renters, and this is something we won’t stand for.

Culture change

“There needs to be a culture change, and that happens through the council taking swift and firm action. There needs to be real penalties for behaving like this.”

Councillor Linda Smith defended the council, saying it was: “Committed to protecting renters” and taking action against bad housing conditions.

“We intervene in 100 per cent of cases where serious hazards (Category 1 or high Category 2) are identified.

“Our approach to enforcement is guided by the Government’s Regulators’ Code, which requires councils to act proportionately and use enforcement action where necessary.

“In most cases, we begin with a Schedule of Works, giving landlords a clear and time-bound route to carry out repairs.

Oxford operates the most comprehensive selective licensing scheme in the country.”

And she says that, in the majority of cases, this results in swift compliance. Smith adds, though: “Where landlords fail to act or risks remain high, we do escalate to Improvement Notices.

“However, when hazards are already being addressed and tenants are not in danger, formal notices may be disproportionate and could delay the resolution of issues rather than speed them up.

“Oxford operates the most comprehensive selective licensing scheme in the country, requiring all private rented homes to meet high standards and be managed by a ‘fit and proper person’, with zero tolerance for rogue landlords.”

Picture: Acorn