At the start of the year I submitted a series of Freedom of Information requests following correspondence with the licensing department at Highland Council. I was seeking support from the council to help deal with my landlord who did not want to make repairs on her property; my home and – I had discovered – did not have a valid landlord registration. Despite the council warning to landlords that such a breach of the licensing laws could lead to a £50,000 fine, the council were not supportive. No such fine was ever issued. In fact I discovered that in the previous 18 months not a single such fine has been issued in the Highlands to rogue landlords. Indeed; nine months later and the property I was eventually evicted from can still be let according to the Scottish landlord register. To add insult to injury, Highland Council would eventually refuse my housing register application after I was evicted because they deemed my eviction invalid.
Context
My concerns at the property related to a list of repairs, lack of a valid rental contract, concerns about safety; no working fire or carbon monoxide alarms, no electrical safety report as well as common damp and insulation woes. These were serious concerns, latterly a home report would concur with my belief that the place was a total disaster. I politely (far too politely) expressed myself in a “sorry to bother you, but…” type letter to my landlord testing the waters. My landlords response was not what I expected; she wrote that if I did not want the property; someone else would. She failed to engage with the repair issues, suggesting I must give her some inappropriate amount of notice if I felt it “was time to move on”. Shortly after I began an application to the first tier tribunal who asked that I provide a license number for my landlord, hers wasn’t valid. What to do? I thought the council would be keen to help.
First Contact
I called Highland Council in December 2023. “Hello licensing team, I am having trouble with my landlord and she is not registered. Help!” I found their response astonishing. They suggested I give my landlord another chance. They suggested that I, the tenant, should remind my landlord of her statutory requirements. I was informed that there was a huge backlog and that the “Rent Penalty Notice” (RPN) I was seeking – as leverage to get my landlord to take my concerns seriously – was not something that they knew much about. This was not what I expected.
I started trying to understand the licensing departments’ process. I simply wanted to know when they might back me up. After I discovered my landlord had already been chased by the council to arrange her registration application I thought they can’t be far off issuing an RPN which I had read – in their own guidance to landlords – would allow me to legally stop paying rent and force my landlord to the table. If I understood the process that might help determine a timeline so I started asking questions; of everyone. Correspondence with the council, my councillor, my allegedly homophobic MSP and my MP were all marked by a noticeable lack of interest and empathy. The council’s lawyer, in particular, responded to me with a bizarre and defensive tone from the get-go, as if my persistent interest in the department policies had hit a nerve… someone had clearly said something they shouldn’t have in my initial call. The lawyers first reply to me concluded with a statement that she was “confident” the initial call I had made to the council was not as I remembered it. It was suggested I had been obstructive as in my first call I did not want to give my landlords details for fear she would evict me – after discovering how unhelpful the council would be I was quite right to be so cautious. It seems that helpfulness is in short supply at Highland Council, but defensiveness is not.
I was eventually evicted. The first tier tribunal was over subscribed and in the end I withdrew my third (and final) case after reading through a number of archived case reports from tenants in much worse situations that I; who’s diligent evidencing of crooked landlords was rewarded with two hundred quid and a slap on the wrist for the criminal landlord. I will share some of the stories I found there another day. What an unjust and unfit system.
I never quite knew what to do with the information that follows. So, I’m just going to leave it here and see what comes of it. I do not have a conclusion today there isn’t one here.
Finally; let us begin. During a housing crisis coinciding with a boom in short term let registrations not a single fine has been issued to rogue landlords in the Scottish Highlands. I concede there have been a number of late fees but not a single big whopper £50,000 fine. No wonder there are so many inept landlords out there.
A final aside in this introduction which is going nowhere – I have no conclusion – what you are about to read is a sort of ranty list… perhaps I will reword this into something else another day. For now – to set the tone – I give you my final tongue-in-cheek FOI which the council were unable to provide an answer for: FS-Case-576367555: wherein I enquired: what percentage of license dept. employees are landlords?
What follows, as I understand it, relates to the licensing of Holiday Homes and Private Long-Term Lets in Highland Council from 2022/2023. The information was requested in early 2024. LAF fees relate to “last six months” meaning last six months of 2023.
Backlog
- In January 2024 Highland Council were processing a “back-log” (their words) of 808 application renewals.
– that accounts for 5% of all registered properties in the Highlands.
I was told this was not a usual state of affairs.
Lots of Landlords
- Highland Council currently have 16,000+ properties registered.
- There were around 6,000 Holiday homes in the Scottish Highlands as 2019; see Scottish Government report titled “Research into the impact of short-term lets on communities across Scotland”.
- Landlords must register a property they intend to rent out. This is a public list.
- If a landlord’s registration is pending (remember that back-log?) you cannot be fined for being unregistered. You may also rent the property, without any oversight… or even fire alarms it would seem!
– An unscrupulous landlord might view that as a loophole and consider submitting an application containing glaring mistakes as to kick the can down the road… In fact I found on the short term let register numerous properties wrongly identified in and around Skye which are currently taking reservations. However, there are safeguards… fees and fines for rogue landlords.
In their defence, and very defensively, the council explained to me that they do issue fees for landlords who then persistently fail to supply a valid application. Failure to submit a valid application… after two warnings and an unspecified time period will result in a fee. In the past six months HC actually cashed in on around £10,000 in late application fees (LAF). Which in the grand scheme of things is laughable… I estimate the private rental market in the highlands (based on average rented house sizes and average rental prices) is worth around 10 Million a year. This is a rough underestimate. The landlords of the 72 properties who failed to provide a valid application after two warnings and unspecified time each paid just £160 each as a late fee. About the same as a one night stay in a STL… application pending.
A Little Late Fee
- In the previous six months the council has collected only £10,000 in LAF fees.
- I estimate the market is worth more than 10 Million a year.
In theory it doesn’t end with the LAF. In reality it could be alleged that it does.
The RPN (this is what I initially sought) is advertised as a warning to rogue landlords who fail to play ball. Should a rogue landlord continually fail to supply a valid application and if they’ve been warned twice and after they’ve been issued with a LAF “the landlord is advised that the Council has additional powers to apply a Rent Penalty Notice if an application is not submitted by the given date in the expiry letter”.
The rogue landlord would be advised. Advised! Is that good enough.
The council explained to me they would at that stage advise the landlord they should complete a valid application. I make that the fifth notice they would receive. They would not at this point automatically enforce a RPN (wherein a tenant could stop paying rent until the landlord actually behaves).
One might view this as the council begrudgingly capable of issuing a fee wherein they are the beneficiary. When it comes to financially benefiting a tenant and really punishing a landlord for breaking the rules; it seems they prefer to advise.
Non Existant Notices (NEN´s)
- In the previous 18 months zero rent penalty notices were issued by Highland Council.
– we are to believe all landlords automatically fall into line; perhaps the advice works
Next. It gets really serious in a most academic sense by which I mean not serious at all. Not worth the paper it is written on sort of stuff. Remember the council highlight that gigantic £50,000 fine that might be issued to rogue landlords who fail to register after multiple warnings and advice…
No Fines for Short Term Let & Private Landlords in Highland Council 2022-2023
- In the previous 18 months zero £50,000 fines were issued by Highland Council. Zero fines.
Obviously.
No kind of conclusion
The council didn’t like that I kept getting in touch and mentioning there are zero fines. There were zero fines. 72 late payment “fees” in the last six months, but no fines. I am being pedantic, I am angry.
I started gathering this information whilst trying to simply understand the departments’ process. I wanted to know they were on my side, they had my back. Completely the opposite was true. As of today, late August 2024 the property I rented is listed in the scottish landlord register as pending application renewal; meanwhile it can be rented out. Despite a complaint from an ex-tenant regarding the requirement that a landlord be a “fit and proper person”, which can be evidenced against with a mountain of correspondence.
Not a great conclusion. At times I had sought to help the department by raising the fact that they appeared overwhelmed with other parts of the council but no one I contacted seemed particularly interested. The licensing department seems to be struggling – without a doubt there are more rogue landlords out there – and it appears to me issuing a few 50k fines wouldn’t go amiss in a time when my local community council was being told that HC would not put up the 450k that a new “affordable home” might cost.
The colossal profits from short term lets in the Highlands dwarves these numbers in every respect and it is frightening to me that the same department at the council I have been communicating with is responsible for overseeing that spreading disease. If ever there was to be meaningful control of AirBnB in the Highlands it would probably have to start with licensing; considering my experience that is a laughable thought.
Next time; I will outline some archived cases from the first tier tribunal and exemplify why its not fit for purpose either.
Related- Scottish Highlands: Dewildered & Depopulated.
* a question: is a fee is a fine why do they not call it a fine then? I will stick with my headline for now.
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