Government reforms to the PRS will fail without sufficient resources to ensure they can be enforced, claims MPs on the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).
This comes as the APPG has published views from across the sector on the future of the rental market.
A common theme among all those who contributed to the publication was the need to take steps to address the actions of rogue and criminal landlords.
Polly Neate, CEO at Shelter, spoke of the need to “help local authorities to crack down on criminal behaviour” while the CEO at the NRLA, Ben Beadle, warned that: “the government must prioritise enforcement of regulations to stamp out illegal activity.”
Similarly, the Centre for Social Justice has called for investment in enforcement capacity.
However, the cross-party group of MPs and peers is seriously concerned that local authorities will struggle to enforce planned changes without a significant boost to their resources.
The Chartered Institute for Environmental Health warned that the number of environmental health officers (EHOs) are “not sufficient to deal with the existing numbers of tenant complaints.”
It cited data showing that for every 10,000 private rented homes there were less than three EHOs.
The APPG has also expressed concerns that renters and responsible landlords will likely struggle to defend their rights in the courts when section 21, ‘no fault’ evictions are scrapped.
Andrew Lewer MBE MP, chair at the APPG for the Private PRS, said:
“It is vital that the Bill provides security to tenants, gives confidence to responsible landlords and roots out rogue and criminal landlords providing sub-standard housing.
“However, none of this will be possible without robust enforcement of the powers being proposed.
“The government needs to provide substantial multi-year funding to ensure councils have the resources they need to enforce the planned decent homes standard and ensure all rented homes are safe and secure.
“Likewise, tenants and landlords need to be confident that they will be able to enforce their rights in court in a timely and effective way when section 21 ends.
“It is simply unacceptable that ministers have provided scant detail about what improvements to the justice system will look like and when they will happen.”
