Greens pile pressure on Town Hall over tougher rules for Hackney landlords

Green co-leaders Zoë Garbett and Alastair Binnie-Lubbock. Photograph: Josef Steen / free for use by LDRS partners

Hackney’s Green councillors have taken aim at the Labour-run administration over “delays” in bringing in tougher restrictions for landlords.

On Tuesday, the opposition group hit out at the Town Hall for failing to deliver on its pledge to introduce selective licensing across the whole borough by 2024.

The scheme would make it mandatory for all private landlords in the borough to gain a permit to let out their properties.

Co-leader Zoë Garbett said thousands of renters had been left “without vital protections”, and called on the council to take advantage of new devolved powers to hasten the introduction of the scheme.

She said the Greens’ proposal to introduce the private rental policy by 1 October this year would generate £1 million in revenue for the local authority.

The Greens also pointed to their having put forward an amendment to the council’s 2025/26 budget that would speed up the rollout, which was voted down by Labour and Conservative councillors.

Hackney’s section 151 officers, who review opposition parties’ budget amendments, stated that the 1 October implementation date was a “tight timescale for delivery” and that there was a “risk that this will not be achieved in time” to deliver the £1m proposed.

Former mayor Philip Glanville and mayoral adviser for private renting, Cllr Sem Moema, in 2022 committed to applying for a borough-wide licensing within two years.

In recent months, the Town Hall has said it was developing a selective licensing policy for the whole of Hackney’s rental sector, following the use of the scheme in certain parts of the borough, which ended in September 2023 after five years.

Cllr Moema in January confirmed that plans to make these rules apply to all private landlords would be brought forward “in due course”.

The Town Hall’s draft private sector housing strategy, currently out for consultation, includes plans to promote awareness of “tenant and landlord responsibilities” and to support “victims of unscrupulous landlords”.

As part of the stated priority to raise standards in the sector, the council said it would encourage landlords to join the London Landlords Accreditation Scheme and attend Landlord Forum events, where they could be taught about good practice.

The local authority stated it was “considering” offering licensing discounts to those who take part in these events, in order to incentivise attendance.

But this has drawn further ire from the Greens, who denounced the idea of “subsidising” property owners “while essential services are being cut”.

Their objections were echoed by 19-year-old resident Dylan Law, who said: “Labour keeps promising [licensing] ‘is on the way’ on repeat.

“Renters can’t feel secure until we have strong protections. If anybody needs a discount, it’s not landlords – it’s renters.”

Mr Law previously criticised the council’s spending cuts at February’s budget meeting.

The fresh row over private rental standards comes after a billionaire “rogue landlord” this week was forced to pay out £263,000 to Hackney tenants, due to unsafe conditions in their accommodation.

A group of former and current residents of Olympic House and Simpson House in Stoke Newington took owner John Christodoulou to tribunal for operating unlicensed houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).

This meant the properties were not subject to legal safety and quality standards, leaving tenants “vulnerable to hazardous conditions, including fire risks”, according to the London Renters Union, which brought the claim.

Cllr Garbett told the Citizen: “We applaud the tenants for taking action, seeking justice and winning this fight.

“But it shouldn’t have gotten to this. Tenants have lives to live and have the right to live in a decent, secure, affordable home without having to go to court.”

Cllr Moema, alongside the former mayor, previously called out Mr Christodoulou for “poor treatment” of residents.

Hackney Council was approached for comment.