Housing and Planning Bill

I thank the Minister for her response and the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, for his contribution on HMO licences. I remain unconvinced by the Government’s response. While the Government may feel that it would be unfortunate if banned rogue landlords went out of business, I am sure that tenants would not feel that way. If you are the tenant of a rogue landlord, or live in an HMO run by somebody on the rogue landlord register, I think you should be entitled to know that. If, as a result of that, some landlords went out of business, only very poor landlords would suffer that fate. Yet if good landlords are judged in the same way as bad landlords—apart from being on the rogue landlords register, which nobody will know about except the local authority—that seems a bit of a nonsense, and a disincentive to those landlords who are extremely diligent and vigilant about looking after their tenants. However, I accept that, at this late stage, I will probably not get the Government to change their mind. I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.