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More than one in 10 rental homes risk health and safety of private tenants, MPs say

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  • 13/04/2022
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More than one in 10 rental homes risk health and safety of private tenants, MPs say
Unsafe conditions, discrimination and threat of eviction remain a huge issue in the private rented sector, MPs have said.

 

More than one in 10 homes pose a “serious threat” to the health and safety of renters costing the NHS an estimated £340m a year, according to a report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

MPs said renters are faced with inaccessible, “arduous and resource-intensive court process” and the risk of retaliatory eviction when trying to enforce their legal right to a safe and secure home.

There is also evidence of unlawful discrimination in the sector, with 25 per cent of landlords unwilling to let to non-British passport holders and 52 per cent unwilling to let to tenants who receive housing benefit, the report found.

Local authorities do not have the capacity and capability to provide consistent protection for private tenants.

And enforcement in the sector was described as “postcode lottery” with more than one in five of all privately rented homes in one region estimated to be “severely unsafe”.

The private rented sector in England has doubled in size over the last 20 years, to currently house 11m people.

Tenants face increasing rents with a rising number of low earners and families renting long term.

Councils are constrained by a lack of support from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and its approach to licensing landlords, the report said.

The department has made “piecemeal legislative changes” to make the regulatory system even more overly complex and difficult to navigate for tenants, landlords and local authorities.

Chair of the PAC, Dame Meg Hillier, said: “Unsafe conditions, overcrowding, harassment, discrimination, and dodgy evictions are still a huge issue in the private rented sector.

“And yet the sector is a growing provider of homes and rents keep rising meaning that safe, suitable housing is too often out of reach for renters. Renters with a problem are faced with a complex and costly redress system which is not fit for purpose and many tenants give up at the first hurdle.

“We need to see a change in balance. We expect DLUHC to produce the promised White Paper in a timely and effective fashion and start to turn around its record on addressing the desperate housing crisis in this country.”

A DLUHC spokesperson said: “Councils should use the powers we’ve given them to crack down on rogue landlords, including issuing fines of up to £30,000 and banning those who rent out unsafe homes.

“As part of our mission to improve housing conditions and to give residents the power to hold landlords to account, we’ll introduce new legislation to improve the quality and regulation of social housing and explore proposals for a national private landlord register in England.

“We’ll also publish a landmark White Paper this spring and consult on introducing a legally binding Decent Homes Standard in the Private Rented Sector for the first time ever.”

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