£321,750 to target Bristol criminal landlords

Bristol City Council has been given additional funding to target criminal landlords and help protect tenants across the city.

The Home Office has given the council £321,750 from the Controlling Migration Fund to drive up standards in the private rented sector over the next two years.

The council now plans to use the funding to conduct intelligence work to identify and target rogue landlords in the city, and take enforcement action where necessary.

Some landlords can get away with not complying with the law because their tenants do not come forward, and although the council investigates unsafe houses and flats every day, it relies upon tenants to report poor conditions.

The council is now urging tenants to come forward if they have concerns about the condition of their rented properties, which they have not been able to resolve with their landlord.

The new funding will also enable the private housing team to recruit three new officers to carry out the additional work.

The officers will work with partners including Avon and Somerset Police and Immigration Compliance Enforcement (ICE) to identify properties where there are likely to be high levels of exploitation and trafficking.

It is estimated that approximately 1,200 inspections will be undertaken over the two year period.

In 2016 the council was awarded money from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to carry out similar work targeting criminal landlords. During this time the private housing team inspected 153 individual properties, served 20 enforcement notices and carried out four prosecutions.

Paul Smith, cabinet member for homes, said: “Across the city people are finding it increasingly difficult to access decent, affordable homes.

“In Bristol we are working hard to tackle criminal landlords and through this extra funding, we expect to see a reduction in the number of these criminal landlords letting out poor quality accommodation and exploiting tenants.

“Making sure that everyone in Bristol has a safe, comfortable place to call home, is one of our key priorities, and we are doing all we can to make this a reality. We intend to use all enforcement powers at our disposal where appropriate.”