Charity urges crackdown on rogue landlords

News Category: Legal

Housing charity Shelter has called on local councils to clamp down on the number of rogue landlords operating in the UK.

The organisation has suggested that this is a nationwide problem and not confined to just a few areas.

Indeed, it stated that local authorities are aware of 1,477 property owners who continue to make life difficult for tenants.

The number of complaints relating to unsafe and potentially hazardous living conditions such as dangerous gas and electricity fittings have gone up by 25 per cent in the past two years.

Despite the apparent increase in tenant grievances, just 270 successful prosecutions against bad landlords have been made in recent times.

"Every day at Shelter we see the devastating impact rogue landlords have on peoples' lives as they remain trapped in homes that cause misery," commented Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb.

Last month, the charity revealed that 472 private renters had lodged a formal complaint against their landlord between 2008/09 and 2010/11 in Bracknell Forest alone.

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