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4 hours ago
6
The organisation complicit in allowing two illegal houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) in my block of six flats is a housing association (The crimewave sweeping Britain? Illegal houses in multiple occupation, 24 October). The owners of the HMOs, both property companies, have rented their flats to up to eight single adults over the past 15 years. The flats are registered by the local council as suitable for renting to three unrelated adults.
Aditya Chakrabortty’s description of the outside of the HMO he mentions, with its jumble of bags and suitcases, describes the front garden of my block to a T as long as you add in broken furniture and urine-soaked mattresses, which are eventually removed by the housing association. Inside the block, cockroaches can be seen crawling around the front door of one of the HMOs, and all of the block’s kitchens and bathrooms have been invaded by cockroaches that were released when the other HMO was undergoing major renovations.
The housing association has ignored numerous complaints from residents about the illegality of the HMOs and the nuisance created by their overcrowded conditions. By calling our complaints “unproven allegations”, it feels free to ignore them. It also refuses to investigate them because it argues that this would disturb the owners’ right “to the quiet enjoyment of their home”. At least our situation is not as distressing as it is for those living in an HMO, but it reflects how hidden many of these properties, with their awful conditions for renters, can be. I hope this powerful opinion piece contributes to the conversation about the shameful state of housing in the UK.
Name and address supplied
The appalling conditions in some HMOs are an outrage, and national and local governments are complicit. The government is happy to receive tax from landlords while denying the resources to regulate a disgusting practice. Indeed, the government is happy to receive the tenants’ income tax in addition.
It would seem that the solution to this problem is strict enforcement of standards. If a landlord won’t meet their obligations, the property should be confiscated and the rent used to bring the property up to standard. It could remain in the ownership of the local authority, or if the landlord wished to retrieve their property, they should meet the cost of renovation plus interest.
Of course, the courts should be properly funded to supervise this process speedily and fairly, so that if tenants have caused the deterioration of the property they should be liable for repairs. The expectation that such poor practices will be ignored is the reason that they occur on the scale they do.
Martin Cooper
Bromley, London
It should be noted that tenants in unlicensed HMOs are able to claim their rent back for the period that the tenancy is unlicensed. This is a far greater disincentive for landlords than criminal prosecutions. A simple letter setting out the intention to seek this through the courts is often enough.
My daughter and the people that she shared with in Peckham, south London, received half their year’s rent from their landlord after sending one short letter and having one virtual meeting with a professional mediator. Organisations such as Justice for Tenants can assist with this.
Victoria Gould
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
Thank you, Aditya Chakrabortty, for giving a human face to one of the many scandalous housing practices that we have sadly come to tolerate. How did it come to this? The answers are simple. Underfunded local authorities with demotivated workforces that are led by politicians and managers more concerned with targets than citizens being treated fairly. Add an overwhelmed court system and a lack of effective regulation plus a dash of buy-to-let incentives, and we have the perfect recipe for unscrupulous landlords to exploit.
The man on the Clapham omnibus does not care that many of his fellow citizens are living in conditions that would not have been acceptable in the 1950s, as long as he does not have to pay more in taxation. You get what you pay for, or don’t pay for – in this case a large forgotten underclass living in squalor.
Jonathan Small
London
