States agrees to crack down on dodgy landlords

The States will have extensive new powers to enforce minimum housing standards and intervene against overcrowding or safety hazards.

Landlords and their properties will have to be registered, and a licensing scheme will be introduced for houses in multiple occupation.

The changes will be introduced gradually over the next few months, after being approved by 19 votes to 17 yesterday, following a heated debate in the Assembly and a tied vote on a late motion, which was therefore lost, to push back the whole issue until after the general election.

Just before the debate, the Environment & Infrastructure Committee circulated images of unacceptable conditions in which families had been found to be living in Guernsey.

‘More than a quarter of households live in our private rental sector and this legislation will ensure that all of those individuals and families can exercise their right to live in a home that is fit for human habitation,’ said E&I president Lindsay de Sausmarez.

‘They are thankfully very much the exception, but I’m sure all members are aware of the horrendous conditions some people in this island are living in because of the lack of any legal requirements for properties to meet a basic standard.

‘Guernsey is an absolute outlier for not having this basic legislation in place.

‘I know we’ve had hand-wringing about being over-regulated, but we are under-regulated, and people are suffering as a result.’

But the new law, which was drafted based on policies approved by the previous States, faced strong opposition in a six-hour debate.

Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller, whose sursis motive only narrowly failed to delay a vote on the original proposal, criticised the powers in the new law, including rights to access homes, take over properties for years and disqualify landlords.

She called on the Assembly to ‘take a breath and consider a more phased and proportionate approach’.

Deputy John Dyke accused E&I of ‘going around the world to find the most extravagant legislation’ and warned that the new law could ‘send the rental market into a crisis’ as landlords decided to give up.

Policy & Resources president Lyndon Trott was forced into an unusual intervention during the closing stages of the debate.

‘I think we all owe each other a common courtesy in this Assembly and I don’t think there would be many, if any, who are listening to this debate who are not feeling uncomfortable with the level of interruptions that Deputy de Sausmarez is experiencing. I would ask the Assembly to give her the courtesy that her office deserves,’ said Deputy Trott.

Deputy Steve Falla had earlier criticised some members for ‘defaulting to the all-too-familiar sport of E&I bashing’.

But Deputy Mark Helyar, who called the new law ‘completely inappropriate and disproportionate’, was unimpressed with some of the complaints about the debate.

‘It is a real shame that some of those members who like to stand up and talk about toxicity and bullying have been lecturing everybody for holding opinions which differ from their own today and yesterday. It’s a consistent theme unfortunately,’ he said.

The new law was approved only after an uncomfortable lengthy delay caused by problems with the States’ simultaneous electronic voting system.

As members floundered trying to find ways of overcoming the breakdown, the Bailiff reminded the Assembly that he was required to follow its own ‘stupid rules’ on voting.