District Green Party group has ten-point plan to improve conditions for private tenants in South Leamington.

Warwick District Green Party has challenged bad landlords to up their game in South Leamington as part of a ten-point plan to improve private housing.
Green Party councillors Jonathan Chilvers and Ian Davison with the Warwick District group's ten-point plan to improvce conditions for tenants renting privately in South Leamington.Green Party councillors Jonathan Chilvers and Ian Davison with the Warwick District group's ten-point plan to improvce conditions for tenants renting privately in South Leamington.
Green Party councillors Jonathan Chilvers and Ian Davison with the Warwick District group's ten-point plan to improvce conditions for tenants renting privately in South Leamington.

Of the households in South Leamington, 30 per cent are rented privately, 11 per cent are shared houses and it is estimated that 1,600 people in the area live in properties that don not meet a decent home standard, lacking things like proper insulation and safe wiring.

Green councillor Ian Davison said: “Many landlords do a good job, fulfilling their responsibilities to tenants and the whole community.

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“But bad landlords are making life a misery, so they need to shape-up or sell-up.”

The Green Party’s ten-point plan includes £45,000 for an extra council officer funded by licensing more houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).

This would enable Warwick District Council to better enforce basic legal standards.

Cllr Davison added: “The council has the legal powers it needs but not the cash or determination to use them.

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“This proposal would change that without significant cost to the tax payer and improve the lives of many in our town.”

A one-stop 24/7 freephone number for people to report noise disturbances is another of the proposals.

Cllr Jonathan Chilvers said: “Persistent noise can destroy your sense of wellbeing in your own home, but often complaints just gets passed from pillar to post by different agencies – they all need to pull together to provide a central contact and action point.”

Other parts of the plan include for the district council - in conjunction with charities - to run a social media campaign highlighting key rights for tenants, for licencing to be extended to all HMOs not just large HMOs, for Warwick University to agree with Coventry City Council and the district council a robust sub-regional student housing sufficiency strategy, for HMOs to be inspected for the HMO database to be kept up to date, audited annually and made open for access.

To read the whole plan and add comments visit www.leamington.greenparty.org.uk or follow the link on the party’s Facebook page.

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