Re: Landlords
 

why should graham jones not tell us if your lot are voting fer landlords interests Andrew? you seem to have much to say about the fact he does n very little about sorting out bad landlords, which IS a major problem, concerns a lot of people, you talk a fine talk about working together, but thats utter balls if yer lot don't want to know. or are you saying councillor jones is telling porkies? lets be knowing what you really think about this issue? after all working together you suggested.:rolleyes:

Re: Landlords
 

come on we all know its tory policy to look out for teh interests of teh richer why would they give a damn about what hell everyday joe has to put up with as long as teh landlords are happy

Re: Landlords
 

You needn't have given in to the petulant one's demands.

As you say, your's, as well as other councillor's interests are already in the public domain.

Owning a house, and I suppose being legal co-owner of your late grandmother's house until things are finalised, which under probate can take a long time, doesn't make you Peter Rachman, at least not in my book.

The sordid depths some people will stoop to, to try and score cheap points, sickens me. Though I suppose I really should be getting used to it on here by now.

I honestly don't know who I'm going to vote for, come the next General Election. But whilst there are grubby little political activists, trying their best to spin the wool over intelligent people's eyes, there is one particular party I definitely won't be voting for.

Re: Landlords
 

Talking of Rachman, the only local scandal I can think of re: landlords, was the other year at the Mayor making ceremony, with banners hanging from the viaduct.

Obviously at least one unhappy tenant in the borough.

Re: Landlords
 

We know you've done lots in your area. Can you please just make it clear to everyone where you feel the Conservatives are preventing you from dealing with BAD landlords rather than all landlords and over what policy issues?

Re: Landlords
 

why don't you make it clear andrew, if you support strong action against bad landlords. or not.:rolleyes:

Re: Landlords
 

Of course I support strong action against bad landlords. I don't support action against all landlords for the sake of it though as I don't think all of them are bad.

Re: Landlords
 

If anyone demands answers to question from councillors from your party, we are advised on this forum that they are willing to meet with us in their offices, and will willingly answer our concerns.

Perhaps you should do the same with your questions, as they only seem to be of interest to you.

Re: Landlords
 

I think its a completely legitimate question to ask. If Graham thinks the Conservatives are voting in the interests of bad landlords then I'm interested to know where he thinks they are doing so.

Re: Landlords
 

so basically are you saying that whats in place don't need to be tightened up in the case of the good ones? if so i think thats rubbish, if a law or act etc needs tightening it needs tightening,its that simple to anyone with common sense.

Re: Landlords
 

There's no need to punish good landlords because of the actions of bad landlords. You need to use powers that deal with bad landlords..

Re: Landlords
 

I'm sure there are lots of people on Accy Web with 'legitimate questions' to ask of their Conservative councillors, but they seem too unwilling to join the debate, or at least too afraid to make use of the medium of a local internet forum, and we are told to contact them privately.

I'm sure if you contact Cllr. Jones privately he'll be only too happy to answer all your questions, and you'd stop boring the rest of us with your childlike insistence.

Re: Landlords
 

i think standards should be improved n that should cover everyone, fail to see why good landlords would object to that.

Re: Landlords
 

You'd think the good landlords would welcome a tighter legislation, so they aren't all tarred with the same brush as the bad ones.

They've nothing to fear, and I can't see a problem there myself.

Re: Landlords
 

seems we said the same thing at virtually same time, though we differ greatly in many things, funny how conservatives don't see this point.:rolleyes:

Re: Landlords
 

They'd probably think improving employment laws infringed on the civil liberties of good employers too.

Re: Landlords
 

Well this is why I would like Graham to explain exactly what it is he means. For example I fail to see how taxing good landlords more is going to improve the situation. All it will do is force rents up. We should be tackling bad landlords hard and I'm genuinely interested in hearing about it if Graham has proposed tackling them specifically and the local Tories have opposed it.

It would be wrong to blindly follow either side without the full facts. Certainly don't think it's childish to inquire, think it's pretty healthy debate to have all the cards on show.

Re: Landlords
 

which party was it that authorised the selling off of nearly all teh council houses in teh first place with this right to buy crap

if council houses were still council owned there wouldnt be such a need for private rented property as there is now and although there woudl probably still be bad landlords there woudlnt be as many

teh only reason tehre are so many rented properties now is because the demand for then is there and if the councils had built more properties instea dof selling them off things woudnt be as bad as they are now for teh poor sods whos houses loose value because most of teh street is rented properties

ps:

both govenments tory and labour are guilty of not providing housing or funding councils or instructing councils to build houses and rely on landlords to buy houses to sort out teh housing problems instead of actually doing somthing to fix it themselves

Re: Landlords
 

Andrew I can give you an example of how the controlling group (ie Tories) are only paying lip service to the problems of bad landlords. Hyndburn council have a list of properties which are in a bad state of repair - this is reviewed every couple of months. There is a certain landlord who has numerous properties on this list, causing all sorts of problems for the people who are unfortunate enough to live near to one of these properties. However there is not a great deal of enforcement action being taken against him.
I have been to several meetings of the Environmental Improvement Working Group and the only conclusion I have drawn from the lack of action against this landlord is that the controlling group have a distinct lack of interest in trying to solve the problem of bad landlords.

Unless really strong action is taken against bad landlords - the good landlords risk being stigmatized as well.

Re: Landlords
 

is this list of bad lanlords available to teh public so they can check it before buying a house near them because if it isnt it should be.

Re: Landlords
 

I would be very surprised if the list is available to the public, the other year when my daughter was having trouble getting a boiler repaired by a private landlord we couldn't even get any info on who he was. So cannot for the life of me see this information being made public:(

Re: Landlords
 

yeah your probably right , you cant even know if a pedophile moves in next door yet alone find out who and where the dodgy landlords are

thankfully they cant stop word of mouth and some people get to know about both instances stated above

Re: Landlords
 

I only read the first page of the thread so I'm only really giving an opinion on the initial post.

What do you expect anyone to do about the issue? People have to live somewhere, whether you like them or not. You can't expect the local MPs to be able to do much about it, private landlord issues isn't their job.

If the neighbours are being anti-social, ring the police. I'm not entirely sure what else you think you SHOULD be able to do about people like that. It's a difficult situation to live with but I personally like the phrase 'put up or shut up' with a lot of issues like these... and of course 'pack up' and leave yourself would be an option if you thought it really was as bad as you are saying. Someone else said this to me once on accyweb and I thought it wasn't as easy as they made out, but actually, it's not that difficult to do anything if you want it enough and you're willing to put the effort in.

Re: Landlords
 

people have to live somewhere but a landlord can decide who they rent to and evict trouble makers , i personaly couldnt give a toss if these bad tennants who make other peopls lives a misery have to live in cardboard boxes under a canal bridge with tehir kids because it may teach them to learn how to behave, also landlords bought these properties so shoudl keep them looking decent and if tehy have tennants that constantly damage the property then again the landlord can evict them and by doing so save themselves money and keep the neighbourhood decent

laws need to also be changed to help landords get rid of scum easier as well where anti social and nusiance tennants are concerned

teh law currently protects teh tennat too much from eviction and a distinct line woudl have to be drwan so that landlords couldnt evict for minor reasons too easily but where anti social behaviour was proven make it very very easy to kick these sorts of tennants onto teh street

also if evicted from a private house for antisocial behaviour it shoudl instantly make them NOT qualify for social housing regardless of how many kids they have

maybe when teh scum realises if they dont behave they will have no where to run they may actually start to learn hopw to behave and if they dont then they will have to face teh consiquencces of tehir OWN actions

Re: Landlords
 

The legislation is there to deal with bad landlords in Hyndburn, what's lacking is the political will to do anything meaningful about the problem.

Re: Landlords
 

I think it might be lot less straight forward than it seems though. These neighbours have to be somebody's neighbours. Nobody wants them to be theirs.. I don't think this is solely a landlord problem (obviously state of the property is).

Re: Landlords
 

Maybe we should gas people who do things just to reap a lot of money. I hear something similar happened in Germany once that was quite successful...

Re: Landlords
 

Don't tempt me...........:)

Re: Landlords
 

nah ..

well not until british gas drop their prices anyway but good thinking

university is working i see

Re: Landlords
 

please explain why a family who has lived in n area fer years happily, should have to "Pack Up" n leave, cos some scumbags have moved in n spoilt the tranquility? unless you support the scumbags?:rolleyes:

Re: Landlords
 

whats needed put simply is fer all parties to work towards fair play fer good tenents/householders, the SCUM who disrupt regularly good folks lives should be treated as SCUM. ya don't need a university education to know that, just a sense of fair play n a bit of common sense. its about bloody time the "LAW" came down on the side of decent people.:rolleyes:

Re: Landlords
 

I watched a programme the other night about bad tenants like every other offenders their rights are put way before decent peoples. About time the laws in this country protected the victims rather than the perpetrators!!!!

Re: Landlords
 

If nuisance neighbours move in it can lower your property value. Not right that you should have to move and lose out on the value just because uncivilised people move in. It's relatively easy for people renting to move out but in either case why on earth should they!

Re: Landlords
 

the biggest problem is that scum have rights and they know it , unfortunatly people advocate on these summy sods behalf and enable them to flaunt rules designed to protect normal decent people

its one of teh downsides of a caring society, it cares to much for teh people who dont deserve caring for

Re: Landlords
 

Sorry Andrew I don't know if it's the tory in you but it's not about money just the right to be able to live your life in a safe manner, to be able to bring your kids up correctly so they will contribute to society when they are older. I could go on but you get the picture, tonight I will be going to Accy Stanley with my son but with the slime that has recently moved in you never know if you will get a call to go home. It shouldn't be like that.:(

Re: Landlords
 

That's why I said 'in either case why the hell should they'. The finance is simply a point that it's difficult to move out even if people wanted to. It's a terrible situation you're in and I hope it's resolved.

Re: Landlords
 

The thing is I'm not alone with this problem, in fact there are people a lot worse who don't go out and unlike me will hide away from the problem.

Re: Landlords
 

dont be a silly moo trying telling your daughter when shes trying to go to sleep for school the next day and the idiots next door are making a racket and the police dont arrive or when they do they pussy about and leave and the music goes back up or complain to the landlords who say tough titty is to do with politics politicians make the rules its about time the silent majority woke up and done something about this..just like they do up here in north ayrshire..

Re: Landlords
 

So, what do you do about the idiots next door that own their own property ? Not all the 'scumbags' as have been labelled are in rented property. It is just a social problem.

Problem with some landlords is that they will not always act on the enforcements, to improve their property, that are in place, and are quite happy to sit back and wait for a CPO (compulsory purchase order) from the council ... which, as ours, do not always have the money to implement.

Re: Landlords
 

whilst i agree some homeowners are scumbags i would acess they are the minority, i don't call it a social problem though, its n Antisocial problem. someone touched on the root cause to me, the "Sale Of Council Houses" that was one of the worst errors any government ever made. whilst it was ok fer the decent folk i knew n worked with many that bought, it was also good fer quite a few scumbags, cos the simple fact was, ya bought from the council, which sold very cheaply the mortgage was then LESS than they were paying rent, therefore leaving more dosh fer booze etc etc, then as already stated, the rental stock was well depleted n never replaced. its a gigantic balls up going back decades, n many are too dense to see it.:rolleyes: this to me has caused many good folk to become less tolerant,cos now the lunatics are running the asylum, n good folk have become the minority as far as justice n fair play mean.:(

Re: Landlords
 

burn them out and hope their not insured :)

Re: Landlords
 

ye:D

Re: Landlords
 

The City of Kingston has a Property Standards bylaw which is strictly enforced ... and if the KPD receives a noise complaint they turn up and issue a warning ... if they have to show up twice to the same location fines are handed out. Third time, a ride in a cruiser to the very nice cells on Division St. Queen's University Alma Mater Society hands out Golden Cockroach awards to landlords who don't maintain their properties in the student housing areas ... last year, for the first time, no landlord was bad enough to earn the award ... I guess even landlords don't relish the bad publicity.

Re: Landlords
 

if only this would happen in britain...

Re: Landlords
 

We have a family close by that seem to come alive in the summer.

It has a house full of teenagers that we dont see all winter but give them a glimmer of hot weather and out they come with the mini moto and booze sitting on the garden walls and riding up and down. till the early hrs.
Thing is a couple of the kids who are with them are only about 12 13ish.

The house has been raided along with their next door neighbours and knives have been found etc so the police are well aware of them and their behaviour .
I even think their landlord is part of it all because Ive seen him sitting there with them so its really a no win situation.
If the police wont do anything and the landlord wont then that only leaves the council but if enough residents wont complain which I think is clearly the case then we have to put up with them .

I certainly wouldnt leave the area for them though. and thankfully I dont have to live next door to them . they are across the back so I am slightly out of the way , but I do feel for the close
neighbours .
I have had to report them a couple of times however because I have caught them hanging around our caravan and then also had a bit of damage to it but we couldnt prove anything there.

In most situations the one glimmer of hope about really bad tenants is that they usually dont last very long. Most will usuall waste thier rent money and get evicted afer a short time . On the downside once they go you get the next lousey lot .

Sadly it does give us good tenants a bad name as in some cases you say " Yes im a private tenant " and you get tarred with the same brush.

Re: Landlords
 

I don't believe the government should intervene in community matters. The problem is that the notion of 'community' has been broken down to smithereens. Only the privileged or very fortunate seem to live in properly established communities these days it would seem.

It doesn't help that Accrington harbours a 'capitalist without capital mentality' and doesn't want to change with the times.

I think the problem is only going to get worse. I don't have a solution for it and I doubt any councillors in the area do either, otherwise I'd have thought they'd have been sorting out the problem. Truth is, I never see councillors doing anything really where I live at home. The most, and long overdue, action I've seen carried out at home is the roundabout up at Britannia, up Ossy. And that's been needed to be sorted out for years so I wouldn't dish too much praise out for that by any means.

There is a lot of charm being lost in Accrington and it's mostly down to the people, either being miserable or causing misery. If the Government's job is to sort out the attitude of the people then humanity is failing at life. People should want to change things for themselves, and if they can't change those basic things then what can the government do?

I'm 20 years old. If you are saying that working hard doesn't grant you the right to choose where you live then what am I doing putting all this money into my education? Should I just give up and stay in Ossy til I'm old and bitter? Or are people in Accrington just not working hard enough to make things better for themselves?

Like I said in an earlier post, someone from accyweb once told me that you can always move if you need to that badly. I thought it was naive at the time but I'd like to think that they were right to some extent, and that if it's a case of having your life affected that badly then you have that choice to go. Especially so if you are renting property, as you aren't as tied down to a property...

I think that maybe people aren't always grateful for what they DO have either. You might be woke up at night sometimes, but at least you have a roof over your head and your families and friends and all the necessities. There are enough people on the street who would jump at the opportunity to live next door to nuisance neighbours if it meant they could shower in the morning and sleep in a warm bed at night.

Re: Landlords
 

Qualification for 50% Council Tax discount by Landlords is based on 6 months empty. So how will that force up rents when they are empty??

The average private sector for the last few years has been £95pw, HA £85pw, Hyndburn Homes £65pw. Clearly to lower rents provision of rented housing has to come from the local authority.

I think there are a lot of things that not being done or done poorly. All the policies have come from Labour which is a worry.

Landlord Licensing has taken 3 years. It still seems a low priority. All the work has been done by Accent/Labour/Neighbourhood Management. 4 years to implement is too long.

Ending the 50% Council Tax discount on empty properties. Labour proposed to end it and charge full 100%. Policy voted down by (all) Conservatives.

Like Landlord Licensing Labour Councillors have been and seen what Mets like Salford and Manchester are doing as well as exemplar authorities like Rochdale. The proposals three years ago were (childishly) booed down in Full Council. However constant pressure has got us to move slowly forward. Eg Boarded up houses are illegal.

We have proposed a Good tenant Scheme - this has been rejected.

In Peel & Barnfield I have a Home Front Scheme open to Landlords (all houses actually) to improve the frontages of their properties.

We have not had one single policy from the Council to help the situation. The wider housing policy, no more social housing, reliance on the private sector, allowing white flight estates to grow, oversupplying housing.

Their is blindness. We are trying. The Council has a different view. Common ground is slow. Rachman conditions will continue with either a Conservative Council OR the current lets all work together because one side is not pulling it's weight.

Re: Landlords
 

I think Graham Jones is a liberal democrat.

Re: Landlords
 

How exactly do you determine who is and who is not a bad landlord. How are you going to deal with appeals and adjudications?

Either you are proposing a do nothing policy effectively or a bureaucractic system. Why would you not treat all Landlords the same?

Re: Landlords
 

I can answer this.

Because landlords aren't all the same, and sometimes in order to get thinks to an equal standard you need to treat people differently.

The EU taught me that :D

Re: Landlords
 

A bit more tricky I admit.

-Noise Nusiance - new tougher legislation.
-Enforcement eventually leading to land charges to ultimately repossession.
-Enforcement, we use very little. You will be staggered what laws exist against nuisance neighbours.
-Tough Policing
-Local Laws - Ban on street drinking
-Community Contracts (on new developments) like in blocks of apartments.
and of course - change the laws nationally.

Re: Landlords
 

That's because the issues and the solutions, the people out there campaigning for change; the people who hold power who do not want change, all these are passing you by leaving unable to decide clearly what is best.

Re: Landlords
 

The majority of that isn't necessary. You don't change the people by changing the law. Making it stricter only leads to disproportionate convictions as well and it costs money.

Strengthening community spirit is what is needed. I'd like to see more allotments and family schemes. Community centres like when I was a wee lass. Social inclusion. Not fragmentation by separating good from bad. Everyone has good in them if they have the opportunity to feel a responsible member of something.

Re: Landlords
 

Where can I find more info on this Graham?

Re: Landlords
 

Err... You're kidding right?

Re: Landlords
 

Why not it is no different from those with holiday homes who have reduced rates for the afore mentioned home.

Re: Landlords
 

I think what Andrew is saying is that if the relief on council tax is taken from the empty properties the landlords will increase rent on tenanted properties to recoup the lost money.

Re: Landlords
 

Is that legal though? Keep forgetting the rules up here are different. If they increase it to recoup lost revenue then there is a chance that others might quit these houses. Seems like a catch 22.

Re: Landlords
 

Rent prices are regulated. You can't charge excessive rent to dodge tax.

The question is how many landlords are caught doing it?

Re: Landlords
 

I've searched this but it appears this scheme only happens in areas with a large asian population, I knew it sounded too good to be true.:(

You can't apply for this scheme the Council will contact you directly and invite you to apply:confused:

Re: Landlords
 

It happens in Oswaldtwistle. No 'large asian population' there. It is granted on the basis of household income isn't it?

Re: Landlords
 

Just what I read on HBC website, doesn't mention any work in Ossy.

Re: Landlords
 

I don't know whether it is legal but you can bet it would be tried. As has been said a few times in this thread a lot of landlords don't maintain the properties, they are just left in disrepair. Surely this practice should be dealt with along with problem tenants.

Re: Landlords
 

Disrepair is already regulated by the law as well, so it'd perhaps be better that either this was made even tighter or it was actually enforced better.

Re: Landlords
 

I wouldnt brag about learning somthing from the EU lol

isnt it them lot that demanded bannas not be aloowed to be sold if too curved or somthing ?

Re: Landlords
 

We are part of 'them lot'...

Wasn't the banana issue something to do with identifying where bananas originated from and something about import tax?

Anyway, it was in jest that I mentioned that the EU taught me that. I'm studying a lot of it at the moment and it amuses me when I see an opportunity to throw it into real life. The EU does a great lot of good though. I'd never be able to say otherwise after studying it. Plus I have a job thanks to the EU at the moment. No bad things about the EU come out of my mouth. Not often anyway.

Re: Landlords
 

The problem in Hyndburn is that there is no will by the controlling group
for enforcement. There is one landlord, who owns many properties in Hyndburn, many in a bad state of repair and on the list of 'blighted sites' who should be prosecuted by HBC but isn't. if he was prosecuted it might send out a message that delibrately leaving a property in a bad condition will no longer be tolerated.

Re: Landlords
 

Realistically, there just is no incentive for anyone accrington to care what happens to the people in it. Where is the hope for people from Accrington? Where is the goal that is to be achieved?

I remember on my 20th birthday thinking 'I will never be a teenage mother now' with relief. Not because it's a bad thing necessarily, or because I think it's a disgrace or anything like that, but because I just wanted to try for something more. But I have to admit that it's hard to be optimistic, particularly in this climate. I've no idea what I will do when my degree is over. Do I take out a loan for £10,000 for the LPC, and more for living costs, or do I continue studying, or do I go to a completely different profession altogether.

There are no guarantees of anything, but I can say with almost 100% certainty that there are no real opportunities in Accrington, certainly not without qualifications behind you, and then there comes the question of why stay in Accrington when you can take your skills and knowledge elsewhere? Somewhere where there IS community spirit and there are shops and bustling streets that are alive.

I love Accrington, I love Oswaldtwistle even more and I never fail to mention the pear drop to every new person I meet. And Accy bricks... but I can't help feeling sad when I think of how much I can't stand being there and seeing so much potential being wasted on a lack of dreams and ambition.

And those dreams and ambitions HAVE to start with the council, because if they have no hope then why should anyone else? I'd love to be a part of that change, but I really don't think I have the strength to turn around all that apathy by myself when there are people in other places who are willing to change things. The people of Lancaster have been campaigning against developments in Lancaster that they feel will threaten their local independent businesses and their communities. They spend all day stood outside sharing their passion for lancaster with people and encouraging people to be a part of the voice.

I've never seen that in Accrington. It badly needs that. I think those that HAVE tried though have lost their voices amidst the apathy though. And unless the younger people decide to make a change, it'll soon be too late to reverse the damage.

Re: Landlords
 

Given the expertise and experience with which you post looks like everyone might as well clear off, last one out please turn off the lights.
:rolleyes:

Re: Landlords
 

I've actually had quite a number of jobs in Accrington and Blackburn as I used to work for a temping agency whilst I was at college.

I also have a great number of friends who are struggling to find jobs and several who have been made redundant.

I have to laugh though, one of my friends was complaining the other day about going for a job that had 30 other applicants going for it and all I could think of was the fact that graduate jobs have hundreds all over the country trying for them.

Not to mention I have two jobs at the moment whilst I study full time.


I was thinking about this the other day actually. What actually happens when a town does just become a deterrent to business and people have no jobs? Do people actually leave, or do they stay and suffer?

Accy town centre seems to have less people around than what I remember when I was younger. Are people moving to other places, or are they just shopping further afield? Or not going out at all?

I guess that would be a question for the ethnomethodologists.

Re: Landlords
 

1. Are you trying to put the polish job stealers out of work.:rolleyes::)

2. Have a look at the mining towns that Thatcher closed down for an answer to your question.

Good post Blazey.

Re: Landlords
 

It's not difficult to live in one town and work in a diiferent one :D

Are you referring to Accrington when talking about a town becoming a deterrent to business ?

Re: Landlords
 

Well, businesses failing isn't what ruins a town. Loss of community spirit does. In Lancaster there is a lovely town called Dolphinholme that used to be a mill town, but the mills closed and yet the place is beautiful. It attracts academics to its cottages and is a really nice place to go to.

And I only have jobs that are available to students so no Polish workers can have mine, but I did once refuse to take a job after the interviewer made remarks about me being the only british person to have applied. Judging the other interview candidates waiting in the job centre with me, they were older than me and probably would have appreciated the job much more. I don't care where they are from. I don't see why I should be offered a job on such narrow-minded reasoning. I knew it hadn't been a brilliant interview and yet I knew I was going to be offered the job. All she'd wanted to do was chat to me and not really ask me much about the job. It was a cleaning job by the way.

No, I'm happy with what I've got. I've applied for another job during term-time as one of my current jobs will end in a few weeks, so I'll hope I get it.

I think I've discovered the difference between Dolphinholme and other mining towns though... BBC NEWS | UK | England | Mining towns hit hard by heroin

Maybe it's a case of how much you feel sorry for yourself?


Also, in response to the question about going out of town to work, yes, obviously I know you can, I've done it myself, but when I speak to people my age they seem very unwilling to do this. They'd either hold out for a chance in Accrington or move away completely. I don't really understand it?! With a few of them I think the main problem is that they can't drive and public transport links aren't really that brilliant or reliable.