Issue - meetings

To consider revisions to the Housing Enforcement Policy that has been in operation since July 2018.

Councillor Hoy presented a revised Housing Enforcement Policy.

Councillor Hoy stated that the Policy was originally approved in 2018 and it sets out for openness and transparency to tenants, agents and landlords the range of powers available to the Council contained in legislation that are used on a daily basis. She stated the emphasis being that the Council should not punish good landlords, the policy has worked well and stood up to scrutiny at every residential property tribunal the Council has attended to defend fines but there has been some learning in court cases that has led to a legal review of the policy to give greater clarity to all involved in the process.  She summarised what the revised policy sets out and that Overview and Scrutiny Panel and stakeholders have been consulted.

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Tierney stated that it is interesting how different councils around the country handle these policies and issues. In his view, Fenland has taken a balanced approach in that there are things that could have happened which would have been punitive to landlords and would have harmed people’s ability to get housing, which the Council pushed back against, and there are other policies that are being championed which punish bad landlords without creating a situation where people do not want to be landlords. He thinks that the way the Council has approached these matters is one that is respected by both landlords and tenants, people can see that the Council has improved the places that are for rent whilst recognising there is still more to be undertaken and Councillor Hoy has led this well.

·         Councillor Hoy expressed her thanks to the officers as when she started her role in 2019, she was keen to implement a policy such as this one that fined the bad landlords and the team embraced this and are undertaking the work daily.

·         Councillor Mrs French stated that she welcomes this policy and referred to a property on The Chase March which has been vandalised and has cost the Council a fortune in boarding it up; the property owes Fenland a lot of money and some form of legal needs to be taken against the owners to try to bring this property back into use and retrieve the Council’s money. Councillor Hoy responded that mostly the Housing Enforcement Policy relates to issues under the Housing Habitation Act but counteracting that is the planning side and perhaps the Council should be serving more Section 215 notices as there are a number of properties around the district that have been empty for too long. Councillor Mrs French stated that it would be a 216 Notice and she is pleased that these were approved to be served on two properties at the last Planning Committee meeting; she feels that Fenland should be taking a tough line as the district has too many properties that have been allowed to fall into disrepair. Councillor Mrs Laws stated that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14