The firm analysed data from its tracking of the Mayor of London’s Rogue London and Agent Checker and suggests that a post-pandemic return to enforcement action is one explanation for the increase, with around 20% of all fines on record occurring in the last 12 months. A greater number of licensing schemes, creating more opportunities for agents and landlords to fall foul of complex regulations, is also a driver, with 13 new schemes launching in the Greater London area, and 30 in the UK, in the last year.
Councils are also targeting other areas and other avenues of enforcement, with Rent Repayment Orders and MEES regulations both seeing increased reporting in recent months. For example, earlier this year a landlord in East London was ordered to pay her former tenants over £12,000 in an RRO case.
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