Whilst the majority of landlords provide decent homes
for their tenants, a small minority continue to break
the law and offer inadequate or unsafe housing –
including to young families and others who are
vulnerable to exploitation.
Councils will be able to bid for funding to step up
enforcement action against irresponsible landlords who
make tenants’ lives a misery and to develop and test
innovative ways to clamp down on squalid accommodation.
Today’s news builds on government action to drive up
standards in the private rented sector – ensuring
millions of hard-working tenants get the homes they
deserve and creating a housing market that works for
everyone.
Housing Minister, , MP said:
Everyone deserves to live in a home that is safe and
secure, and it is vital we crack down on the small
minority of landlords who are not giving their
tenants this security.
This funding will help further strengthen councils’
powers to tackle rogue landlords and ensure that
poor-quality homes in their area are improved, making
the housing market fairer for everyone.
Local authorities already have strong powers to require
landlords to make necessary improvements to a property
and can use a range of measures, including fines and
banning orders, to tackle rogue landlords.
The new funding will be used to support a range of
projects that councils have said will help them to ramp
up action against criminal landlords – for example, to
build relationships with external organisations such as
the emergency services, legal services and local
housing advocates.
Councils may also decide to support tenants to take
action against poor standards through rent repayment
orders, or develop digital solutions, helping officers
to report back and make decisions quicker.
The money will also be used to encourage councils to
share best practice of enforcement action and examples
of innovative approaches that are self-sustaining and
can be easily adapted to other parts of the country.
There are more than 4.5 million households in the
private rented sector in England, with recent
statistics showing that 82% of private renters are
satisfied with their accommodation.
The fund will help councils take on the most common
challenges that stand in the way of tackling poor
standards in the private rented sector, including:
-
the need for better information – on housing stock
and on landlords and agents operating in their
areas
-
data sharing between authorities and agencies –
identifying and bringing together different data
sets to enable better enforcement targeting
-
internal ‘ways of working’ – improving
housing-specific legal expertise, in-house
communication between teams, and tools and
strategies to effectively implement policy
-
innovative software – for enforcement officers to
record their findings, gather evidence and
streamline the enforcement process
