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Morning Briefing: government rogue landlord register empty after six months
The government’s database of rogue landlords remains empty more than six months after it was launched, an investigation has found
In the news
The news forms part of extensive research into rogue landlords undertaken by The Guardian and ITV News.
Unlike the Greater London Authority’s rogue landlord database, the government version is not publicly available.
A Freedom of Information response provided by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said it is “not in the public interest” to explain why the list is secret.
The Guardian published a number of articles on rogue landlords last night, exposing some of the country’s worst offenders and outlining how the law is failing to stop them.
ITV News has also uploaded numerous clips from a programme based on the pair’s investigation.
In other news, the BBC and others report on credit reference agency Experian’s announcement that it will now take account of tenants’ rental payments.
The move means hundreds of thousands of renters will likely get better credit scores, with most of them social renters.
Some 150 councils and housing associations have signed up to the scheme.
Elsewhere, 17 mayors around the country have called for a “radical shift of power” to the regions after Brexit, according to The Guardian.
And the BBC runs a story on a report by the new group Transport for New Homes, which said new developments are trapping people in ‘car dependency’ by being too far from amenities and other forms of transport.
In Wales, developer Bellway has said it will pay to remove dangerous cladding on six blocks of flats in Cardiff, per the BBC.
Meanwhile, Get West London reports that Kensington and Chelsea Council is in a legal battle with a woman over her right to stay in a flat occupied by her late father. The judge is to rule whether Emma Spinola can stay because of the “exceptional circumstances” of the Grenfell Tower fire.
And finally, The Guardian runs an interview with Philippa Stroud, Conservative peer and chair of poverty commission the Social Metrics Commission, in which she calls for the government to prioritise investing in Universal Credit at the Autumn Budget.
On social media
Housing minister Kit Malthouse is championing a new slogan for the government’s efforts to solve the housing crisis:
#MoreBetterFaster t.co/RnO1QVQOck
— Kit Malthouse MP (@kitmalthouse)#MoreBetterFaster https://t.co/RnO1QVQOck
— Kit Malthouse MP (@kitmalthouse) October 24, 2018
What’s on
- Prime Minister’s Questions will take place in the House of Commons at 12pm
- Straight after, parliament will hear a 10 Minute Rule motion on ‘housing reform’, put forward by Conservative MP Richard Bacon
