Tighter rental rules 'huge imposition on tenants'

Eastern Landlords Association chairman Paul Cunningham said more frequent rental property inspections would be "a huge imposition on tenants"

Tighter regulation of privately-rented housing would invade tenants' privacy through an increased number of inspections, a landlords' association has claimed.

Great Yarmouth Borough Council (GYBC) is consulting on a selective licensing scheme, where landlords would need a licence for privately-rented properties in specific areas with poor housing conditions and high levels of deprivation.

The authority said it wanted to ensure all tenants had a home that was "safe, warm and well-managed".

But Paul Cunningham, chairman of the Eastern Landlords Association, described the move as "a huge imposition on tenants" as properties would need to be inspected at least every three months.

The council first introduced the scheme in the town's Nelson ward, but its plans to extend it to Southtown & Cobholm, Central & Northgate and part of Yarmouth North would see 5,000 properties affected.

Mr Cunningham, who is also chairman of Great Yarmouth and Gorleston Landlords Association, said: "It's a bit like repeating a process that didn't work the last time.

"This one is more onerous, and part of the licence conditions will be that the landlord has to do four inspections a year on those properties."

The council said the Nelson scheme saw 1,553 private rental homes licensed and regulated between January 2019 and January 2024, arguing there were "considerable improvements" made to those homes.

Paul Wells, cabinet member for licensing, said it was important for the local authority to try to resolve known issues with rental properties

The conditions that licensed landlords would have to comply with include property exteriors needing to be in a "good state of repair" and that "all reasonable and practical steps available" are taken to reduce antisocial behaviour or criminality.

Paul Wells, GYBC's cabinet member for licensing, said: "We all know in Great Yarmouth we've got properties that have been used as cannabis factories; properties used as houses in multiple occupation piling people in when we know they aren't suitable for that; with mould up the walls; with faulty electrics.

"This is a specific concentration [of these problems] in Great Yarmouth and it's right that we step forward and try to get it resolved because everyone deserves to have a house that is fit to live in.

"This is about having the powers and the ability... to get in there to proactively resolve these issues rather than us having to wait passively to hear of them from someone else."

Sheila Oxtoby, chief executive of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, said the scheme would enable the authority to "be aware of what's happening in properties"

GYBC chief executive Sheila Oxtoby said the council already used enforcement powers to ensure standards were met in private rented housing.

"What this does is give us the opportunity to proactively be aware of what's happening in properties by undertaking those inspections," she said.

"We can't just inspect these properties at the moment without this legislation being in place and it also gives us intelligence that we can feed back to other agencies like the police."

James Wilson, the council's head of environmental services, said regular inspections might deter some tenants from criminal activity

Under the proposed changes, records would need to be kept of the more frequent inspections and made available to the council.

James Wilson, GYBC's head of environmental services, said the authority was open to negotiation if there was a genuine concern the inspections would invade the privacy of tenants or be problematic for landlords.

He said the scheme would give landlords "the opportunity to see the condition of their property and possibly prevent some illegal activity taking place".

"It might put some people off if they know these inspections are coming," he added.