BLOG: How we’re tackling rogue landlords

One year ago, Liverpool City Council launched a Private Sector Housing Intelligence and Enforcement Task Force, and the results have made a real difference in our city. Tom Mullan from the team reflects on the last year...

This anniversary gives us a chance to celebrate the team’s achievements in disrupting rogue landlords, improving housing conditions and creating safer communities. Through multi-agency collaboration, intelligence sharing and enforcement, the Task Force has delivered significant outcomes that benefit our city and its residents.

The Task Force, established with funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) Pathfinders Programme, was tasked with establishing new and innovative ways to combat landlords who:

• Ignore their legal obligation to license properties
• Fail to meet safety standards for tenants
• Use properties for illegal activities, like drug-related crime or human trafficking

Cllr Sam East, Cabinet Member for Housing, emphasised the importance of the initiative: “This Task Force was established to proactively target and disrupt rogue and criminal landlords and managing agents operating in the private sector in Liverpool and the threats they pose to our city’s vulnerable residents, safe neighbourhoods and community cohesion. The team’s collaborative, intelligence-led, multi-agency approach is a real success.”

Some of our achievements so far…

Improved housing safety
Over 129 serious hazards were identified in private rental properties, with 139 enforcement notices issued, including 21 Housing Act Improvement Notices and a further 8 Emergency Prohibition Orders.

Disrupting criminal activity
Joint operations with Merseyside Police and the Home Office resulting in the seizure of £13 million (street value) of cannabis and the emergency closure of eight properties.

Creating trusting relationships
Established service level data sharing agreements with the other local authorities in the Liverpool City Region and our external partners to foster joint working in tackling rogue and criminal landlords.

Safeguarding vulnerable residents
Investigated over 20 properties linked to human trafficking and sexual exploitation, working with our third sector partner, Changing Lives, to provide support for victims.

Investigating Trading Standards
Proactively investigated and enforced trading standards compliance on over 40 managing and letting agents operating in Liverpool.

Making an impact across the country
Submitted 586 intelligence reports to a national database, helping disrupt criminal operations locally and nationwide, and partnered with Shelter to develop e-learning modules for agents on tenant rights, deposit security and consumer protections.

Cllr Laura Robertson-Collins, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, Communities & Streetscene, said: “The targeted work across the city has had a real impact, improving housing conditions and creating safer neighbourhoods for our residents. Their proactive partnership working with Merseyside Police, housing providers and local voluntary organisations is helping to restore pride in our communities and make a real difference in people’s lives.”

Making a difference in our communities

Beyond the numbers, the Task Force’s work is creating safer, more stable communities:

In Norris Green, operations reduced drug-related crime and anti-social behaviour by targeting rogue landlords and unsafe properties.

Cllr Kevin Pilnick reflects on the work in his ward: “The team’s targeted operations in the Norris Green area have made a real difference.  Their work with the Council’s community co-ordinators and neighbourhood managers, alongside other stakeholder agencies, is helping to reduce anti-social behaviour and drug-related crime.”

Working together to make an impact

This progress is the result of teamwork across the council and partnerships with external agencies. Here’s what some of our partners had to say:

Sarah Clarke, from Changing Lives, said: “The collaborative working that we undertake with the Task Force in Liverpool provides us with critical opportunities to offer safeguarding to victims of adult sexual exploitation and human trafficking who face significant harm from organised crime groups.  We cannot safeguard in silo and the joint working has evidenced this.”

Peter Yoh, Head of Liverpool City Region Housing at Riverside: “The partnership working and intelligence sharing is proving vital to the success in making a real difference to customers of the private rented sector living within our communities.  Our collaborative approach with the Council’s Task Force is resulting in enforcement action being taken against irresponsible landlords, which is stabilising communities and sustaining tenancies.”

Merseyside Police said: “Merseyside Police works in close partnership with the Task Force and other partner agencies from the voluntary and community sector, establishing a multi-agency approach to engaging the local community and gathering intelligence for detecting and disrupting sexual exploitation and supporting victims.”

Looking Ahead

With three months left in its current phase, the Task Force is already embedding its strategies into Liverpool City Council’s long-term private sector housing operations. The aim is to make our proactive, intelligence-led approach a standard for how we handle housing enforcement.

If you have any concerns about rogue and criminal landlords, please contact privatesectorhousing.intel@liverpool.gov.uk or use our freephone number 0800 707 6245.