Councils carrying out HHSRS inspections for only one in three complaints from private renters
Councils responded to just a third of complaints raised by private renters in England between 2021 and 2023 with a Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) inspection, according to research by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA).
The NRLA claimed that freedom of information requests it had submitted had revealed a “postcode lottery” in responses to reports of potential hazards.
Under the HHSRS, local authorities can carry out inspections and then force the landlord to act where hazards are detected.
The NRLA report found that use of all types of enforcement powers made available to local authorities remains heavily concentrated in a small number of councils.
The following were reported to be issued by just 20 local authorities:
- Half of all HHSRS inspections.
- Over half of all improvement notices.
- 60% of civil penalties.
Furthermore, between 2021/2022 & 2022/2023, a total of 2,984 civil penalties were issued by local authorities in England for an array of offences to do with the private rented sector. Only 9% of these civil penalties were related to enforcing the HHSRS. In comparison, 60% of civil penalties related to licensing offences.
Additional issues were revealed in councils’ enforcement of penalties, with a total of just under £13 million levied in penalties compared to just over £6 million collected.
The NRLA also found that the frequency of HHSRS inspections was not linked to the number of complaints raised by tenants. “Many of the local authorities who received the most complaints perform relatively few HHSRS inspections,” the report said.
It also criticised poor data keeping, finding that 16% of local authorities were unable to provide inspection figures and 37% of local authorities were unable to provide tenure specific data around complaints.
The NRLA called on the next government to urgently publish the promised review of the HHSRS. Councils should also be required to publish annual reports on their enforcement activity in respect of the private rented sector and how it is helping to address poor practice and sub-standard housing, it argued.
A new national Chief Environmental Health Officer to drive the need for better enforcement should be created, it added.
The full report, The Enforcement Lottery: Local authority enforcement 2021-2023, is available here.
Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “No renters should ever have to put up with unsafe housing. Whilst ultimately it is landlords who are responsible for the quality of the housing they provide, tenants must have confidence in councils’ ability to act when renters require assistance.
“Our research paints a worrying picture of councils under strain struggling to respond as they should to tenant complaints. In addition, many do not have the data needed to track enforcement activity properly.
“Calls for new laws to tackle rogue and criminal landlords are distracting from the fact that councils routinely fail to make the best use of the powers available to them. The focus must be on swift, consistent enforcement. This is in the interest of households and responsible landlords.”
Harry Rodd
