Landlord ASBO's - could they be the answer?

Are landlord ASBOs the answer?

The first landlord to potentially be awarded an ASBO for letting out unacceptable rental property has got his mug in the Daily Mail.

David McCabe, 57, whose been a landlord for 30 years, had just been fined £28,000 following 28 counts of breaking regulations and failing to clean up two of his rental properties.

Plymouth Magistrates Court heard that the landlord was renting out litter strewn squalor to poor and vulnerable tenants. Rotting floors, inadequate fire alarms and junk filled gardens, doors seized shut. I think you get the picture.

To try to prevent McCabe from continuing to rent out his squalid properties Plymouth City Council are attempting to launch a legal application for an Anti-Social Behaviour Order which would stop him renting rooms to anyone on housing benefit.

The council lawyer explained that 'The council tried to work with him for many years and he is brought before court as a last resort."

Now I wonder could landlord ASBOs be a better way forward to weed out the 'rogue landlord' element than the push for mandatory landlord licences. At least this way you could punish the rogues and not lumber the majority of decent landlords with expensive licences. For let's face it these costs will only be passed onto the tenants through increased rents.

Read the full Daily Mail article