Renters’ rights bill: need for effective enforcement

The proposed renters’ rights bill may struggle to deliver real change without a solid plan for enforcement, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has warned.

As the debate heats up in the House of Lords, the big question remains: how will councils tackle rogue landlords?

What’s the renters’ rights bill?

The bill aims to introduce essential standards for rental properties, including:

• a decent homes standard
• measures to combat dangerous damp and mould
• a new database of private rented housing

Councils will have to enforce these standards.

Rogue landlords and fines

However, it seems councils are already stretched thin.

Freedom of information data reveals that less than half of fines against rogue landlords were collected from 2021 to 2023. Shockingly, nearly half of English councils didn’t issue a single fine in that period.

With one in four councils potentially facing bankruptcy, the pressure is mounting. They are expected to do more, while juggling housing reforms, building new homes and managing social care crises.

The NRLA believes that councils simply won’t have the resources or focus to enforce the new bill effectively.

A plan of action?

To prevent a few rogue landlords from ruining the reputation of the rest, the NRLA is calling for several key measures, including:

• a full assessment of local authority resources
• annual reports from councils on enforcement activities
• preventing duplicated efforts between the planned database of private sector landlords and properties and local landlord licensing schemes
• a new chief environmental health officer to oversee enforcement

What the NRLA says

Ben Beadle, chief executive of the NRLA, says councils need to do more to stop rogue landlords from getting the upper hand:

“If planned reforms are to work, councils need to up their game at finding and rooting out those who have no place renting property out and making it easier for the law-abiding majority providing decent and safe homes.”