Minister unveils £2m fund for enforcement action against rogue landlords

Councils will be able to bid for a share in a £2m fund for enforcement action against rogue landlords with the money being available for expenditure on improving housing-specific legal expertise amongst other areas, Housing Minister Heather Wheeler has announced.

The prospectus for the Rogue Landlords Enforcement Grant can be viewed here.

The moneys can be used to develop and test innovative ways to clamp down on squalid accommodation, and to share best practice, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government said.

It added that the fund would help councils take on the most common challenges that stand in the way of tackling poor standards in the private rented sector, including:

• the need for better information – on housing stock and on landlords and agents operating in their areas;
• data sharing between authorities and agencies – identifying and bringing together different data sets to enable better enforcement targeting;
• internal ‘ways of working’ – improving housing-specific legal expertise, in-house communication between teams, and tools and strategies to effectively implement policy;
• innovative software – for enforcement officers to record their findings, gather evidence and streamline the enforcement process.

Housing Minister, Heather Wheeler, MP said: “Everyone deserves to live in a home that is safe and secure, and it is vital we crack down on the small minority of landlords who are not giving their tenants this security.

“This funding will help further strengthen councils’ powers to tackle rogue landlords and ensure that poor-quality homes in their area are improved, making the housing market fairer for everyone.”