Issue - meetings

Members were advised that the purpose of the decision was to ensure that Thanet residents had safe, secure housing, whether within the council or as private residents and that this consideration was a high priority to the council. In bringing council housing service back in house Cabinet took a very significant step to show the council’s priorities as a direct landlord; with the onset of new legislation, Cabinet was extending such protection to the private sector.

These new regulations require private landlords to maintain electrical safety standards in privately rented homes. This is a new legal requirement and one which has long been overdue. This approach signifies the importance of accommodation as a whole, across both council and privately rented properties, and it takes an important step towards showing tenants that the council, has expectations of its own housing services as well as that of private landlords in terms of the safety and treatment of tenants.

The principal requirement of the new regulations are that landlords must ensure that a suitably competent and qualified person inspects and tests their electrical installations at intervals of not more than five years, and must ensure that all repairs needed to make their installations safe are carried out.

Councillor Jill Bayford spoke under Council Procedure 20.1.

Councillor Whitehead proposed, Councillor Everitt seconded and Cabinet agreed:

1.  To approve the adoption of the proposed “Policy for imposing financial penalties under The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020” annexed to this report; and

2.  To delegate authority to the Director of Housing and Planning, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing and Community Services, to approve minor amendments to the policy.