Thousands of Capital’s Residents Lack Basic Housing Facilities
A report reveals how thousands of London tenants are suffering at the hands of rogue landlords often going without basics such as hot water and heating for months.
A report by Conservative campaigner and activist Kemi Badenoch reveals that thousands of private tenants in London are suffering at the hands of rogue landlords – sometimes going months without basics such as heating and hot water.
The report reveals that complaints to local London borough councils from private tenants requiring basic repairs to their homes are close to 3,000 per year. Even worse, several tenants are having to wait more than three months in some cases before emergencies are dealt with by a specialist London plumbing services or similar.
Over Burdened Local Authorities
The reports author says that, when landlords shirk their basic responsibilities, it places an extra burden on the already limited resources of local authorities. Badenoch goes on to say that local authorities should be armed with the power to issue penalty notices to landlords who neglect their responsibilities.
Another problem is the need for some tenants to go through their landlord’s letting agency if they use one. In these cases there can sometimes be an extra barrier to getting essential repairs attended to as the letting agency and the landlord have to be working swiftly to remedy the problem.
Some tenants aren’t fully aware of their tenant rights. This can particularly apply to young people renting their first property who are maybe new to London if they’ve, say, recently moved to the capital to start a new job or to study.
A typical case that falls into Badenoch’s report is a young woman in her mid-twenties renting a flat in Walthamstow who went without heating and hot water for four weeks in the middle of winter. She contacted her letting agency on a daily basis but nothing was happening: “they were dragging their feet and it was a constant battle” she remarked.
