Agenda item
TO RECEIVE WRITTEN QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
The questions which have been received from members of the public for this Council meeting are set out in the attached report. A maximum period of 20 minutes is allocated to this agenda item.
Minutes:
The following questions and in each case (except where indicated) a supplementary question were put and were responded to by the relevant Executive Member.
6.1 Question from Mr Michael James:
How will this council deal with unjust private landlords and protect victimised tenants from eviction?
Response by Councillor Rabina Khan, Cabinet Member for Housing and Development
Thank you and my sympathies to you and your courage in notifying environmental health officers and as you know now we have a schedule of work in place and we have served notice to the landlord to ensure those works take place.
But actually your question is a far reaching question in asking how we protect the private rented sector.
It is very important and deals with the private rented sector not just in Tower Hamlets but it has an impact on the rest of London and the country. The Mayor made a promise to deliver the Landlords Registration Scheme. Now the issue of tenants being victimized in the private rented sector is an important one because when Thatcher introduced right to buy she also abolished the rights of tenants. They were abolished on 15 January 1989 as part of the Rent Act. Whilst regulated tenancies offer some protection there are fewer rights for private rented sector tenants.
In April 2014 Cabinet agreed the Fairness Commission recommendations. Recommendation 16 of the commission clearly sets out that we must improve the private rented sector and tenants must be better protected from a landlord licensing scheme in Tower Hamlets.
A licensing scheme would enable the council to apply legal requirements in designated areas requiring landlords to register, apply for a license for each property they rent out and comply with the specific conditions.
Last week Cabinet agreed the consultation process to begin for the first stage of developing this Landlord Registration Scheme.
As part of the consultation we have a duty to consult with private rented sector landlords, tenants and other interested parties who have a say in this.
Regardless of how unfair this must be to you it is a national crisis as well and the most important thing in the future for any political party to campaign on this is for changes in the current legislation to ensure that tenants are protected far more.
Supplementary question from Mr James
Regarding the Council’s new scheme we call upon the Mayor to contact landlords directly this winter who are evicting tenants unjustly to warn them.
Councillor Rabina Khan’s response to the supplementary question
Your comments are very important and I will ensure that as part of the consultation that is done.
6.2 Question from Mr Glyn Robbins:
Can Councillor Khan please confirm if the Council will be represented at 'Le marché international des professionnels de l’immobilier' - the MIPIM conference - to be held at London Olympia, 15 - 17 October 2014?
Response by Councillor Rabina Khan, Cabinet Member for Housing and Development
Thank you for your question. For people who do not know what the MIPIM conference is, it is a trade fair for the property industry. It takes place in Cannes and it tells you something that it is the first UK conference to be held at Olympia and it will be held between 15 – 17 October.
It is for the big players, the people who want to invest in property and the people who want to take land and develop it and sell it.
You are right to say that when we live in a country that probably in the future generations of our young people will never be able to buy our properties. In fact they will be probably in their late thirties or early forties if they are ever to buy a property.
I sympathise with those critics of the conference who say that the conference is too heavily weighted in favour of speculators and it is true that people come here and see whether or not they can get a very good deal and possibly they will look at Tower Hamlets.
Boris Johnson will be making the keynote speech but that is in the interests of the Tory Party.
Too much of our property market is skewed by developers seeking to make fortunes by carving up the property market and getting their hands on the 13 million acres of under used public land at a knockdown price and that will be happening at the conference and no, Tower Hamlets will not be represented there.
(No supplementary question was put.)
Supporting documents: