to clean up their act Council to clamp down on sub-standard properties By David Crookes dcrookes@lancashire.newsquest.co.uk LANDLORDS in a crime-ridden district of Bolton are to be banned from renting out properties which they fail to bring up to scratch.

Some tenants in the Haulgh have been living in run-down multi-occupancy homes which lack even the most basic amenities.

But in a hard-line scheme run by Bolton Council, their landlords will be ordered to spend thousands of pounds to create more up-market accommodation.

It is believed that better housing and more expensive rents would be less attractive to pimps, drug pushers and prostitutes.

If landlords fail to comply with the new renovation ruling, they will be told they cannot allow tenants to take up residence.

They could face a maximum fine of £5,000 if they flout the order under the amended Housing Act of 1996.

Empty homes will also be tackled, with thousands of pounds being pumped into making them suitable for living. Any landlords who do not join the compulsory scheme will have their properties closed down until they do.

The council will have the power to take over control and management of the premises. At the very least, they can order the number of occupants to be lowered.

Steve True, private sector housing manager at Bolton's environmental services, said that some homes at present were "not fit for any human".

They often lacked hot water and cooking facilities. Some had damp walls and bare floors. One house in Bromwich Street was so bad that it had to be demolished.

It was, he said, as a result of years of neglect. But he believed the new landlord registration scheme would turn the properties around.

Cllr Frank White wants to see more families attracted to the area.

He said: "Some of the properties at the moment can only be described as squalid."

A model scheme was initially proposed by the Government which required landlords merely to notify councils of their multi-occupancy houses.

But Bolton Council has gone one stage further and lays down a series of conditions aimed at boosting housing and landlord standards. The local scheme has been approved by Labour ministers.

It sets guidelines for structural stability, dampness, drainage, water supply, lighting, ventilation and heating.

Mr True said: "So far, 15 landlords have applied to join the register and we expect to process them in the next fortnight.

"We will see massive investment in properties over the coming year. Some landlords will be spending around £25,000 to bring them up to scratch."

The scheme aims to wipe out the decay which has blighted the area in recent years. Drugs are openly peddled on the streets and prostitutes have created a lively red-light district.

Carly Bateman, the 17-year-old prostitute murdered two weeks ago, was dumped in an alley at the back of Crawford Avenue.

Mr True said tht landlords who spent vast amounts of cash on their properties would be less inclined to allow drug pushers and prostitutes to live there.

He said: "Landlords would naturally be more selective with the tenants they allowed to stay in their properties.

"These people are businessmen, some with six or seven properties in the area. Many of these houses have been left to slide, but once they are renovated, we will see improvements."

There are 80 tenant properties based in the Haulgh although a large proportion of them them live elsewhere.

Absentee landlords, according to Supt Don Brown of Bolton Police, are a huge problem in the area.

In a reference to the benefit payments handed to some landlords, he said: "They are drawing on your money and are not looking after their property or tenancy agreements."