Landlords raise concerns about new housing laws
BBCThere are concerns from landlords that new minimum housing standards laws on Guernsey are not meeting the Island's needs.
Changes included a new Director of Housing Standards and giving the committee regulatory powers on hazards and minimum standards of homes.
President of the Landlords Association, Jeff Guilbert said: "I think this will just tip quite a few more over the edge and they're just going to leave the industry.
The President of the Environment and Infrastructure said that "modernisation of the legislation has been needed for sometime."
Mr Guilbert said: "We haven't got new blood coming into it. It's not a financially advantageous business to be in at the present time."
As of 3 March 2024, The Landlords Association represented 317 landlords with 2,412 units of accommodation plus 38 houses in multiple occupancy (HMOs) with 204 beds.
Despite concerns, Deputy CEO of Citizen's Advice Guernsey, Annie Ashmead said: "The people who come to us are reporting living in sub-standard accommodation, properties poorly maintained, damp, mould, ingress of water.
"Although they may represent a small minority of the number of people who rent on this Island - they are still people.
"We have on average around 40 people a year reporting issues with the housing conditions they live in and it needs to be addressed."
The President of the Environment and Infrastructure, Lindsay de Sausmarez said: "This modernisation of the legislation has been needed for sometime."
Some people have raised concerns online about the scope of the new legislation.
One user said they felt a landlord "now has the legal right to rifle through your personal belongings anytime to see if any of your possessions might be hazardous to you."
Deputy de Sausmarez responded by saying: "I don't know what to say about this one. It's just not right. There's nothing right about that at all."
'Reasonable actions'
Islanders had questions about the powers the new director would have to enter their property, what work they could request them do to their property and the right to go through tenants' belongings.
Deputy de Sausmarez said: "The Director or Inspectors can only take reasonable actions where they can prove, they can demonstrate to the satisfaction of a court that the action is entirely necessary and appropriate."
The draft law needs to get royal assent and go through procedural processes before it can be fully introduced in Guernsey law.
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