You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
One in six private rented homes 'unsafe'
Nearly one in six privately rented homes in England is physically unsafe, a report published today has said.
Analysis of the English Housing Survey by Citizens Advice and the New Policy Institute (NPI) found that 16% of privately rented properties – 740,000 homes – contain a ‘category 1 hazard’ that presents ‘a severe threat to health or safety’.
Under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, a category 1 hazard, which can include severe damp, excessive cold or risk of falls, means the property fails the legal minimum standard for housing.
The Citizens Advice and NPI research found the average rent paid for unsafe private rented homes was £157 a week, with the properties’ landlords paid a total of £5.6bn a year in rent.
Of this, £1.3bn is paid by the state in the form of housing benefit.
According to the report, A Nation of Renters, these properties contain 510,000 children and 180,000 include a person with a disability.
Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: ‘Rogue landlords are putting profits before safety… The government has rightly said it wants to tackle the country’s housing crisis – it must make targeting dodgy landlords, giving tenants better rights and driving up standards a major part of that effort.’
The Deregulation Act, passed by parliament earlier this year, is set to stop ‘rogue’ landlords undertaking ‘revenge evictions’ against tenants who complain or request repairs.
The prime minister David Cameron announced today he wants to introduce a new mandatory licensing regime to ‘crack down on the unscrupulous landlords who cram houses full of illegal migrants’.
He also said he wanted to roll out the requirement, which is currently restricted to a pilot, whereby landlords must check the immigration status of their tenants.
