Minister urges councils to make greater use of powers over rogue landlords

The Housing Minister has called on councils to make greater use of the powers available to deal with rogue landlords, after deciding to scrap the previous government’s plans to introduce new regulations on the private rented sector.

Grant Shapps said local authorities could already:

• Require landlords to take action to rectify hazards in their property. Where landlords resist, councils can make and charge for improvements, and prohibit use of the affected parts of the property
• Use discretionary licensing powers to tackle areas blighted by poorly managed privately rented stock.

The minister said he had “no plans” to introduce a National Register of Landlords, regulation of letting and managing agents, and compulsory written tenancy agreements.

These changes had been proposed by the Labour government in response to the Rugg review of the private rented sector.

Shapps insisted at Communities and Local Government questions in Parliament that the existing legal framework strikes the right balance between the rights and responsibilities between landlords and tenants.

Claiming that the vast majority of tenants are happy with the service they receive, the minister added: “I make a promise to good landlords across the country: the government has no plans to create any burdensome red tape and bureaucracy, so you are able to continue providing a service to your tenants.

“But for the bad landlords, I am putting councils on alert to use the range of powers already at their disposal to make sure tenants are properly protected.”