Marks Out Of Tenancy receives Private Rented Sector Innovation and Enforcement Grant funds
In November 2019, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced the availability of a £3.8M pot which local authorities were invited to bid for. The 'Private Rented Sector Innovation and Enforcement Grant Fund 2019/20' guidance states: 'MHCLG is looking for local authorities to propose focused, targeted projects which will deliver measurable and sustainable benefits to their enforcement operations. The proposals should be robust and effectively tackle the persistent problems presented by criminal landlords who break the law and provide poor quality housing, and support landlords in fulfilling their responsibilities.
The bid guidance document, some of previous year's successes and ideas for local authorities can be found here: Private Rented Sector Innovation and Enforcement Grant Fund 2019/20
One of the local authorities that bid for funds from the £3.8M pot was Nottingham City Council who announced today that they were successful in receiving £100,000.
You can read the announcement from Nottingham City Council here: £100,000 to help improve renting standards in Nottingham
There are six strands / projects which are being funded, from 'Improving the advice available with a number of online resources', 'Training sessions for landlords to help them become more familiar with the HHSRS process', 'A Series of How-To guides for landlords and tenants', 'A training programme to create more accredited Enforcement Officers to tackle rogue landlords' and 'Marks Out Of Tenancy'.
The MHCLG funds via Nottingham City Council will be used to get more reviews on the Marks Out Of Tenancy platform.
This serves three main purposes:
1. Enable renters to share their experiences, which in turn enables future renters to avoid rogue landlords and poorly maintained properties, while having the information to pick better landlords and properties.
2. Help Nottingham City's good landlords to polarise themselves apart from the bad operators. Landlords can sign up for a free landlord account here, be notified of new reviews and respond to comments.
3. Using the technology that powers our Vault service, Nottingham City Council will be able to you to see which landlords are renting which properties, identify unlicensed properties, and find sub-standard housing.
What does this mean for renters?
They'll be able to make better choices about who to rent from and where they want to call home.
What does this mean for landlords?
Good landlords will finally be able to show they're one of the good guys.
What does this mean for the local authority?
They'll be able to access much needed data in order to understand what's happening in their patch.
Housing Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said: “This Government will deliver a better deal for renters. It’s completely unacceptable that a minority of unscrupulous landlords continue to break the law and provide homes which fall short of the standards we rightly expect – making lives difficult for hard-working tenants who just want to get on with their lives.
“Everyone deserves to live in a home that is safe and secure and the funding announced today will strengthen councils’ powers to crack down on poor landlords and drive up standards in the private rented sector for renters across the country.”
