‘Thatcher’s favourite council’ launches rogue landlords crackdown
Wandsworth council has carried out more than a hundred inspections and has issued over 40 enforcement notices in just four months.
Wandsworth Council has stepped up its enforcement against rogue landlords as part of a borough-wide licensing drive aimed at improving rental standards.
Since July, it has carried out 110 inspections and issued more than 40 formal notices to landlords who have failed to meet required safety standards.
The council reports its inspectors have found properties with undersized bedrooms, missing fire doors, blocked escape routes and faulty alarms.
One three-storey house in Putney intended for three tenants was discovered with a dangerously small bedroom and no heat or smoke detection system. The landlord was served with a legal notice requiring fire doors to be fitted, alarms to be installed, and all escape routes to be cleared.
unfit for an HMO licence
Another case involved a two-storey home with a spiral staircase open to the living room, creating a direct fire-escape hazard. After consultation with the London Fire Brigade, the council warned the owner that, without structural changes, the property could be deemed unfit for an HMO licence.
A separate six-bedroom property had no fire doors and a defective basement exit beside gas and electricity meters; emergency works were ordered to make it safe.
These new landlord licensing schemes give us more robust powers to inspect and intervene where landlords are not living up to their duties, providing renters with more support and protecting their rights.”
Aydin Dikerdem (pictured), Wandsworth Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing, says: “These inspections show why licensing matters.
The message is clear: unsafe rentals will not be tolerated. These new landlord licensing schemes give us more robust powers to inspect and intervene where landlords are not living up to their duties, providing renters with more support and protecting their rights.”
The borough-wide licensing scheme applies to all Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and private rented sector homes in Balham South, Furzedown, Tooting Bec and Tooting Broadway. Landlords operating without valid licences face prosecution or fines of up to £30,000, while tenants can reclaim up to 12 months’ rent if offences are proven.
We can sleep safely, in our regulation-sized bedrooms, knowing that Council Officers are protecting us from the peril of dangerously small bedrooms. I hope they have sealed off rooms like that with tape marked: Official – Danger, do not enter!
Perhaps Councils should focus more on fire, gas and electrical safety rather than size, given the shortage of accommodation in central London boroughs. 6.5m is the minimum bedroom size for an HMO licence, and that is the size of three double beds. Rooms are being taken out of the housing stock that may well suit a young tenant moving to work in another city, who has not many belongings to store and would like a cheap room in the right location. To give credit where it is due, some central London borough housing inspectors do take a sensible view where they see a small room that works well, but not all.