Police in Yeovil, Somerset, have raided a series of private rental properties believed to have been used as brothels. So far so good, but one surprising outcome of the raid is that the police apparently think landlords are responsible for what tenants get up to inside their rental homes.
Police Raids on Landlord Properties
Following the raids, which took place on November 2nd and included a full contingent of police riot vehicles, members of the local fire and rescue, environmental health officers, and numerous bodies on the ground, a spokesperson from Avon and Somerset Constabulary released a statement to the local media:
Landlords Responsible for Their Premises
“Landlords need to take a degree of responsibility for insuring that their premises are safe. They’ve got to make sure that their premises are up to a certain standard.
“This means that all appropriate taxes are being paid by tenants. It also means ensuring their premises are being used for the reasons they’re being rented out for. If it’s a domestic property it shouldn’t be used for a business. Landlords need to make sure whatever is happening is legal.
“We’re taking an approach to say that landlords need to take a degree of responsibility for what is happening. This multi-agency response came after events last month. We used those events to gather intelligence, to check other properties and to check they are being used legally.”
So if that statement is taken at face value, landlords are now expected, amongst other things, to check whether their tenants are paying their taxes?
