None of us are in favour of rogue landlords, over-crowded or dangerous accommodation but when the local and regional press publish celebratory press releases from Brent Council I often wonder about the fate of those displaced by action against such landlords. A possible unintended consequence of the Council's action.
Do the displaced tenants add to the homelessness figures, are they officially accepted as unintentionally homeless, are children involved, do some of the displaced end up joining rough sleepers?
I made the following FoI request to Brent Council to try and find out:
Please provide details of tenants displaced as a consequence of actionThe Council replied that they had searched electronic and paper records and they did not hold the information requested.
taken against landlords (overcrowding, unlicensed etc) under the Landlord
Licensing Scheme for the year commencing January 1st 2016.
1. The total number of displacements including children.
2. The status of tenants - single men, single women, couples, children.
3. The nationality/ethnicity of these tenants.
4. The destination/outcomes for these tenants as a result of displacement
eg hostel. temporary accommodation, bed and breakfast hotel, social
housing, referral to homeless charity
5. The total number accepted as homeless by the Council.
As it is not tenants, but landlords, who are the guilty party in such cases, I think the lack of any record of impact on people displaced by Council action is a failure of duty of care.
