An estate agency has been prosecuted and ordered to pay £35,000 for falling foul of property licensing rules.
Green House Estate Agents Ltd, of Edmonton in north London, failed to obtain licences for three residential properties, and did not provide information to Enfield council, contravening the Housing Act 2004.
All three properties were required to be licensed under the council’s selective licensing regime. Selective licensing applies to all privately rented residential properties occupied by one or two persons, or one family households in 14 areas of the borough.
At Highbury Corner Magistrates Court, Green House Estate Agents Ltd, was also ordered to pay costs totalling £2,348. A surcharge of £2,000 was also imposed in each prosecution.
Council officers investigated Green House Estate Agents Ltd for letting three properties without a licence.
The officers discovered disrepair at the properties including fire safety deficiencies, damp and a general lack of management.
Green House Estate Agents Ltd was convicted for managing and having control of the three private rented properties without a licence on 24 November 2022 and did not attend the sentencing hearing last week.
A council spokeswoman says: “There are many law-abiding landlords in the private rented sector in the borough, and the council is here to help and advise them to ensure their properties reach the required standards and are properly licensed.
“Unfortunately, there are also landlords who break the law by not obtaining the legally required licence to let their properties. The council’s successful prosecution of Green House Estates should be a wake up call to all unscrupulous landlords who do not comply with the law.”
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Shame you can’t fine the council for robbery.
So the "selective" licensing scheme "selects" only rental properties with one or more tenants in them?!
...and the horror story they uncovered?
"The officers discovered disrepair at the properties including fire
safety deficiencies, damp and a general lack of management"....
I'd say they were clutching at straws there to try and find something (anything) wrong in order to justify themselves, but its all a bit vague and pathetic sounding to me, and of course no actual enforcement of anything was mentioned because nothing actually needed doing except paying - of course - for the licencing scheme and also being fined vast amounts of money for not having paid before.
So the council's totally UNselective licencing scheme is obviously designed only to exploit and fleece landlords and has nothing to do with targeting and then policing and/or improving certain types of properties that might be a special risk category its all just about taking money of landlords and intimidating them/us by punitively fining anyone who dares to ignore the scheme and not willingly pay-up.
That's quite similar in principle at least (except without the violence) to the way the Mafia operates by charging "protection money" to any business attempting to trade in their "territory". If you pay the "protection" money then the "protection" you get is that they don't come round and burn your place down... or in the case of the council take you to court and fine you for nothing more than simply not paying.
They aren't targeting any sort of higher risk properties and there is nothing "selective" about it. They are simply demanding that a "fee" is paid for every single blimin' property that a landlord is brave and daring enough to offer for rent in Edmonton - which sounds to me like another "rogue" council that should itself be taken to court and punitively fined.
Company status
Active — Active proposal to strike off
Company type
Private limited Company
Incorporated on
5 November 2013
Accounts overdue
Next accounts made up to 30 November 2019
due by 30 November 2020
Last accounts made up to 30 November 2018
Confirmation statement overdue
Next statement date 5 November 2021
due by 19 November 2021
Last statement dated 5 November 2020
Nature of business (SIC)
68320 - Management of real estate on a fee or contract basis
Previous company names
Name Period
HOLLOWAY KEBAB LTD 05 Nov 2013 - 24 Jun 2014
Thanks FL, that's interesting - not just that they're years behind with filing accounts but also that they used to be a kebab business.... so maybe there is more to this than the fact that they didn't pay for those un-selective licence fees and perhaps they are a "rogue" landlord after all?
I must admit I hadn't thought of looking them up on Companies House but can see it was a good thing to do.
Even so - it does seem to me that Edmonton were (and are) mainly interested in just collecting licence fees and this is just the sort of landlord that might not bother paying.
Also, in going after "Green House" like this, Edmonton might have been wasting tax-payer's money in pursuing a "man of straw" - as such parties are known by lawyers - i.e. a person or organisation that is able to get away with things because they have no money to pay anyhow, or can easily hide or dissipate whatever funds they do hold.
Maybe they knew that but still decided to do it to "encourage the others" because they also realised that Green House didn't care, probably wouldn't bother trying too hard to defend themselves and so would be likely to get clobbered with a relatively hefty and scary sounding fine - - even if they never actually ended up paying it.
Since it is a limited company they will probably go into liquidation and so no fines will be paid. They may then open up as a kebab shop/agent again.
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