Understand your options Homeseekers open day is an annual event run by the council’s Housing Options service and registered social landlords giving advice on mutual exchanges and moving outside the borough. see below Property Green-fingered gift National Garden Gift vouchers can be bought and spent in more than 2,000 garden centres and shops in the UK. www.thevouchergarden.co.uk Lettings agent fined again BY STEFAN SWIFT A MANAGEMENT agent who was fined £3,000 in October 2014 has been fined again for withholding information from the council about a different property. Luis Felipe Tilleria Limongi, of Miles Buildings, Westminster, was found guilty of ignoring a request for information at Thames Magistrates’ Court The agent was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £650 after failing to provide information about a property in Ronald Street, Limehouse. He was fined last year for a similar offence relating to a flat he managed in Hamlets Way, Mile End. The court heard Limongi had failed to respond to two council notices requesting this information. He had been asked by the council to meet officers and tell them who lived at the address and who collected rent on his behalf – information needed to assess overcrowding claims. Dave Tolley, head of consumer and business regulations, said: “Mr Limongi, like anyone else benefiting from letting private accommodation, has a legal responsibility to share all relevant information with the council. This information is vital if the officers are to improve housing conditions. These notices must not be ignored.” The court case comes as Tower Hamlets seeks views from the public about a proposed landlord licensing scheme for the private rented sector. It would mean private landlords will be required to obtain a licence from the council to rent their properties, enabling the authority to target bad landlords and support good ones. The council is hoping private sector landlords, tenants and business or service providers will fill out a questionnaire., which can be found by April can be the busiest month Tips from National Garden Gift Vouchers searching for landlord licensing scheme at www.towerhamlets.gov.uk THE gardening season has officially started and there is plenty going on. April sees the start of the Love the Plot You’ve Got campaign in UK garden centres and nurseries to inspire young people to put any outside space to good use. For more on this, visit www.loveyourplot.com Also, the Royal Horticultural Society’s National Gardening Week starts next week from April 13-19 encouraging people of all ages to get into gardening. One of the easiest ways to get started is to grow plants, herbs and even vegetables in containers and pots. The gardening myth of the month is about adding gravel or broken pots to the bottom of containers to help with drainage. Evidence suggests this is not only a waste of time, but restricts growth, leaving roots sitting in water. Soil holds moisture better than gravel. As long as the container has a hole at its base, water will find a way out. April is the ideal time to get your garden ready for the summer. It’s just as well the days are getting warmer, although there could still be frosts, so take care planting out seedlings too soon. MORE than 300 people flocked to a Homeseekers day hosted by the council’s letting service with community organisations and social housing landlords. As well as giving the public information about services such as mutual exchanges, money management, smarter bidding and Housing Options outside of the borough, the event, at Tarling East Community Centre in Shadwell, provided fun activities including face painting and a bouncy castle, for young visitors. COVERING M25 RADIUS your local authority 789 Commercial Road, St Anne Street, Limehouse, London E14 7HG 3/5 YEARS LEASING OPTION • NO VOID PERIOD • NO MANAGEMENT FEE CASH INCENTIVE FOR LANDLORDS* 1, 2, 3, 4 bedroom flats/houses wanted • Monies paid instantly upon signing *T&C Applies. t 020 7538 8887 Lines open 24 hours info@metropolitanandcrown.com www.metropolitanandcrown.com Did you know? We are the official leasing agents and preferred choice for WE GUARANTEE TO LET YOUR PROPERTY ON THE SAME DAY *T&C APPLIES GUARANTEED year! the RENT weeks of 52 on March 12. Lizzie Fletcher, bottom right, pictured with colleagues 6 – 12 APRIL 2015 N E W S FROM TOWER HAMLETS COUNCIL AND YOUR COMMUNITY 25
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