Councils "must use powers to improve standards in private rented sector"

Local authorities must make better use of their existing powers to regulate the private rented sector and drive up standards, a think tank has claimed.

IPPR North, which will publish a report on the issue later this month, also called on councils to set up community housing agencies. These organisations would compete with private letting agents to match tenants with landlords.

The profits could then be used to improve housing quality through an increase in the number of inspections and operating a system of landlord accreditation, IPPR North said.

The think tank said that more public money than ever before was being spent housing people in privately rented homes that were in poor condition. Nearly one million vulnerable households, many in receipt of housing benefit, were now living in accommodation that failed to meet the Decent Homes standard, it claimed.

IPPR North said its report would show that the number of people living in privately rented accommodation and receiving housing benefit had risen by 900,000 in the last ten years, “as the role of local authorities as landlords has halved”.

The think tank added that its long-term plan was to shift housing benefit spend into house building.

Ed Cox, IPPR North Director, said: “The ever-rising cost of rent subsidy for those on housing benefit and the growth of an under-regulated private rented sector, means more taxpayers’ money than ever before is being paid to private landlords for substandard housing.

“Our research shows that people on the lowest incomes are not only the most likely to live in sub-standard housing but they are also the least likely to have these problems addressed by their landlord. They are also less likely to take action against their landlord for fear of the consequences.”

Local authorities were best placed to identify and determine the properties that most needed attention, he added. “With powers largely in their possession, local authorities should establish not-for-profit agencies to act as a guardian and gatekeeper for tenants living in the private rented sector.”