Make Awaab’s Law apply to private landlords, council says
Private renting chief Cllr Sem Moema addresses the chamber. Photograph: Josef Steen / free for us by LDRS partners
Hackney Council is to make it harder for landlords to shirk repairs and maintenance, as it announced plans to reform the borough’s private rented sector.
New proposals agreed by the cabinet on Monday include a crackdown on rogue landlords, with more officers to investigate properties, and an online tool for tenants to directly report negligence or unlicensed houses in multiple occupation (HMO).
The local authority is also lobbying Downing Street to bring in stricter regulations to speed up private landlords’ repairs for hazards like damp and mould.
In its strategy document, the Town Hall promised it would “call on the government to fulfil their promises to extend ‘Awaab’s Law’ into the private rented sector”.
This law currently requires social landlords to investigate and report on health and safety issues in council rented properties within 14 days, but does not apply to private lettings.
It was first introduced in the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, and is named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died in 2020 after prolonged exposure to mould in his family’s one-bedroom rented flat in Rochdale, Manchester.
At the inquest into the boy’s death, an expert who visited his home said there was a “significant presence” of fungi known to trigger allergic reactions.
The pathologist who carried out the post-mortem added that the condition of Awaab’s airways strongly indicated severe inflammation caused by exposure to these organisms.
In a bid to raise standards in private rentals across the borough, the council has also been using additional and selective licensing schemes, and has confirmed it will “consult with landlords, tenants and other stakeholders on their views to introduce both schemes for another five years”.
Under UK law, landlords need to obtain an HMO licence to rent out houses or flats to at least three tenants who do not form a single household.
Smaller properties with three to four occupants are subject to “additional licensing”. For instance, when houses are converted into self-contained flats but do not meet building regulations.
Selective licensing is where private landlords require a permit to let out properties in specific areas.
All of these regulations are designed to make sure homes meet minimum standards around fire safety, overcrowding and other concerns.
But on Wednesday, Cllr Claudia Turbet-Delof (Victoria, Independent Socialist) asked Cllr Sem Moema, deputy cabinet member for private renting and affordability, why only a quarter of HMOs in the borough had a licence.
Cllr Moema explained that, in total, three quarters (75 per cent) were either licensed or in the process of obtaining one.
Out of 600 properties within remit, 143 licenses are currently in force, 174 applications are being processed and 133 are waiting to be finalised.
Moema also confirmed that proposals for borough-wide selective licensing, one of the council’s manifesto commitments, would be brought forward “in due course”.
The report adds that due to a lack of financial support, enforcing the standard of rented homes had been challenging on many fronts.
But by “advocating for increased funding”, the local authority aims to hire more officers to inspect properties – potentially leading to higher rates of legal action against rogue individuals.
Hackney’s new strategy document also raises the rise in poorly managed and poor quality ‘non-commissioned exempt shared housing’.
This refers to accommodation provided by non-profits, where landlords can claim higher levels of housing benefit to provide tailored support, often for vulnerable households.
While the local authority commissions and regulates a great deal of these types of “useful transitional accommodation” for homeless individuals, the Town Hall warns it is seeing “unscrupulous agencies exploit gaps in the regulatory regime”.
This has allowed organisations to claim higher benefits while providing “minimal” support, and is likely to be the case for “very vulnerable households”, the report stated.
The council’s fears echo the homelessness charity Crisis, which in 2021 argued that often the most marginalised people, such as victims of domestic abuse, were being left with “no choice but to accept unsafe, poor quality accommodation”.
“Despite large sums of money being paid to providers in these cases, adequate safeguards to ensure homes are decent and well-managed are simply not in place,” the charity’s report stated.
To deal with this “complex and challenging” problem, the council promises it will lobby the government for more power to constrain the growth of this unique sector, while also exploring ways to persuade providers to sign up to a set of “quality standards”.