New Economics Foundation: Private renters facing postcode lottery when reporting poor housing conditions due to lack of enforcement officers

• Housing officers oversee close to 250 properties each in best area, compared to 25,000 each in the worst

Private renters are facing a postcode lottery when reporting substandard housing conditions to local authorities due to a lack of enforcement officers, according to research out today from the New Economics Foundation (NEF).

Tenants can complain to their local authority if their landlord has failed to make their home liveable. But today's research finds that the lack of staff in local government means that many local authorities are unable to enforce housing standards. Across England, there are over 3,300 private rented properties per enforcement officer. But the research finds that this figure masks stark inequalities across the country.

Nottingham has the best enforcement capacity, with just 267 properties per enforcement officer. Meanwhile the worst resourced local authority, Huntingdonshire, has almost 25,000 private rented properties per enforcement officer – almost 100 times as many. In areas like this, local authorities' ability to enforce decent private rented housing is largely symbolic, and leaves tenants contending with damp, black mould and other health dangers in their homes.

As part of the renters' rights bill, this government plans to create a landlord registry to form a database for tenants, landlords and local authorities. Today's research found that local authority officers are currently struggling with workloads, with the research showing concern that without extra capacity, the new database could simply add to administrative burden.

Today's research finds that just £46 from an annual registration fee could pay to ensure no enforcement officer oversees more than 1,000 properties. Across the country this would pay for a trebling in staffing for private rented sector enforcement, on average. The financial impact on landlords would be minimal, with the fee reducing landlord yields by less than 0.03 percentage points, even in areas with lower rents.

Christian Jaccarini, senior economist at the New Economics Foundation, said:

 “Too many renters are stuck in damp, dangerous, and insecure homes, while rogue landlords go unchallenged and enforcement teams are stretched to breaking point.

“The good news is that we can change this. For less than the cost of a meal out for two each year, charging fees to sign up to a landlord registry could finally end the postcode lottery in enforcement and make decent housing a right.

“Councils, tenants, and even landlords agree: we need a landlord registry that holds bad actors to account and gives responsible landlords the credit they deserve.”

The government's proposed landlord registry is intended to form part of a private rented sector database. Today's research also found high agreement about the importance of this amongst landlords, tenants and local government. The research found:

• Tenants, landlords and local authority representatives all saw the database as a unique opportunity to improve the private rented sector.
• All tenants and representatives thought the database provides an opportunity for much needed regulation.
• Over half of landlords believed the private rented sector needs more regulation.

Notes

The New Economics Foundation is a charitable think tank. We are independent of political parties and committed to being transparent about how we are funded.

The report, Detailing the database: how the private rented sector database can support enforcement and drive up standards, can be found at https://neweconomics.org/2025/07/detailing-the-database from 00.01 Wednesday 30 July 2025.

The report modelled how fees from a new landlord registration portal could fund stronger enforcement in the private rented sector (PRS). Revenue estimates are based on three inputs: 4.7 million PRS households (English Housing Survey 2023–24), 2.3 million landlords (HMRC 2021), and an assumption that 65% of landlords will sign up to the landlord registry (MHCLG, April 2025). This is expected to rise over time. The detailed reports also include estimates of the fees needed for enforcement, assuming 100% landlord compliance. Revenue is modelled under various fee structures, including per-property, per-landlord, and hybrid models.

To assess potential enforcement gains, we use 2022–23 local authority data submitted after the death of Awaab Ishak. While it likely overstates enforcement capacity, this data provides a national baseline. Employment costs are drawn from ASHE data (SIC 84120), uprated to 2026 and adjusted for pensions and National Insurance, yielding an estimated cost of £57,476 per FTE.

We model scenarios to estimate total revenue, the number of enforcement officers it could fund, and the resulting increase in capacity. These are illustrative, showing how a well-designed portal could significantly improve enforcement.

Table 1: The five most stretched areas for PRS enforcement

Source: NEF analysis of enforcement data returns and the English Housing Survey – full details in methodology note.

Table 2: The five best resourced areas for PRS enforcement

Source: NEF analysis of enforcement data returns and the English Housing Survey – full details in methodology note.

Qualitative data was collected via 18 interviews and two focus groups with tenants, landlords, local and combined authority representatives and other stakeholders.