A Facebook page, set up by an un-named landlord whose property had reportedly been wrecked by tenants, controversially allows landlords in the Merseyside area to share details about their worst tenants.
Initials
The page, which is reportedly entitled ‘Tenants From Hell’, and was brought to public attention recently by the Liverpool Echo, enables landlords to use the initials rather than full name of tenants who have caused extensive damage to properties, and have left with significant rent arrears.
Although the founder of the page is reported to have said that most posts are actually about finding local tradesmen and selling properties rather than comparing notes on bad tenants, the page has caused controversy.
Wrecked
According to media reports, the motivation for setting up the page was the (unnamed) private landlord’s experience of being left with a wrecked house and £3,200 of rent arrears by one particular group of tenants. The landlord in this case, was reportedly caught in the position of believing that the tenants were waiting for information about housing benefit which, unknown to the landlord, they had not even claimed.
Some Support
Media reports indicate that there is some support among private landlords, some of whom have suffered similar experiences, for the existence of a fairly-operated register / shared information hub. Those sympathetic to the case of what are essentially businesses, feel justified in finding an effective, shared way for landlords to minimise the financial risks and perceived inequalities of being squeezed between accommodating tenants with poor local renting records, and changes in the benefits system that have resulted councils now pay to many tenants, not landlords directly.
Government Bias?
Many private landlords feel that even the government appears to be favouring the rights or tenants over those of landlords with £12m funding being used to chase 5,000 rogue landlords and with no database for bad tenants but a new one for rogue landlords.
Blacklisting Danger
The idea that the Facebook page is acceptable because good tenants have nothing to fear has not been shared by all. Some commentators have suggested that the page, if used for swapping information about individual tenants, could constitute a dangerous form of blacklisting, even for those who have done nothing wrong.
Campaign groups, such as Generation Rent, have expressed concern that it is possible that tenants who may be justified in complaining to a landlord about a substandard service, could end up being a blackballed on the landlord’s Facebook group, and this could affect their future renting prospects in the area.
Fears have also been expressed that this Facebook page could potentially be open to abuse, and could leave some of the most vulnerable unable to rent. Critics have also pointed out that there are bad landlords as well as bad tenants.
What Does This Mean For Private Landlords?
The appearance of this Facebook page is a symptom of the frustration and powerlessness that many private landlords feel, and the lack of adequate protection that they feel they have against acts that would quite simply be considered crimes were they not somehow mitigated by a tenancy agreement.
There may be some small form of re-assurance for the future with councils being able to impose fines for a range of housing offences, but for the time being, many landlords feel that their businesses are being left exposed to huge financial risks with little support or consideration from the government.
