My Lords, I warmly endorse the first two amendments in this group. I find it inconceivable that the Government should stick to their position of declining to accept these basic amendments about the obvious need for properties to be fit for human habitation and electrically safe. It is not asking too much of landlords to ensure this; as we have just heard from the noble Baroness, a five-yearly inspection would hardly be costly, and in any event would no doubt be reflected in the rents charged over that period. At £150 or something like that, that would be only £30 a year. It is ridiculous to suggest that that would be too much of a burden for landlords to accept. And how anyone could resist a requirement for properties to be fit for human habitation escapes me.
However, I want to address the third amendment in this group, which is about property guardianship, and particularly about the condition of the properties that are dealt with in that fashion. I have to confess that I was entirely unfamiliar with the concept of property guardianship, or indeed the existence of property guardians, until I read an article in a newspaper—appropriately, the Guardian—in December. It seems that empty buildings, often large ones, are let out at low rents, but the renters have no security, with some companies—it tends to be companies which operate these properties—offering just two-week notice periods. Normal standards of safety and the condition of the property do not appear to apply or to be achieved.
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The concept appears to have emerged some years ago, with large, empty buildings being let on licences which offered the owners of those buildings some protection of the properties, which might otherwise
have been vulnerable to vandalism or other damage. There are now apparently 4,000 people living as property guardians, with what the Guardian report describes as high prices and increasingly unsuitable living conditions. In the report, one guardian was complaining of seeing rooms “like chicken coops” in Kennington offered at £500 a month. The premises have rows of plyboard walls and no natural light or ventilation.
The matter was researched by an academic at Durham University, one Gloria Dawson, who found one space formerly occupied by three people now occupied by up to 15. There is often only one kitchen or one bathroom in these multiply occupied large spaces. In one case, six guardians had to use a temporary shower in a dirty, windowless room in a place where the toilet light could not be made to work.
The report cited the case of a property in Hackney which had been used for five years by interns working for the letting company. They were paying £130 a month for a property where they, as employees of the company, were claiming that at times, rubbish was not collected, the electrics were faulty and there was no hot water. It has now changed hands to a different company, and the cost of a room is £700 a month.
Bad as all that is for guardians, it is also bad for councils, because the owners of these premises, which are usually commercial premises, cease to pay business rates. One company specifically advertised its ability to reduce empty property rates, claiming to have reduced rates for an office block, a gym and some industrial units by converting to this guardianship scheme from £694,000 to £33,000, from £150,000 in another case to £2,650 and, in a third case, from £110,000 to £15,000. Not only are people being exposed to very unsatisfactory living conditions, with no recourse to having them improved, but the local authorities are deprived of significant income, which could and should be used for services which are very much under pressure. There is nothing to stop that change of use from business to residential purposes as, thanks to the coalition Government, planning permission is no longer required for such conversions.
The amendment will not deal with the conversion of business properties to housing, something which we may well be discussing later in the Bill. An amendment to that effect may emerge from the Government Benches; I hope the Government will take that seriously. However, the amendment is intended to ensure that residents acting in the role as property guardians enjoy at least the same protection in relation to their living conditions as other tenants, and that the landlords act, if not as guardian angels, at least as responsible owners who pay due regard to the need to ensure that residents in their properties enjoy the same protection in relation to living conditions as other tenants.