The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee found that rapidly rising rents and low standards in the private sector mean that “safe, adequate housing is very often inaccessible to tenants”. And they said that diseases and injuries resulting from Category 1 health hazards – which could include hazards such as electric shocks, dangerous stairs, carbon monoxide leaks or structural weaknesses – cost the NHS 40 340 million.. A “postal lottery” of standards saw up to 21 per cent – more than one in five – of private rental homes in Yorkshire and Humber pose a serious health threat, compared with 9 per cent in London. As rising house prices have taken away home ownership from many Britons, the private rental sector has doubled in size in the last 20 years and now houses 11 million people, the report said. Private tenants spend an average of 32 percent of their income on their living, compared to 18 percent for landlords and 27 percent for those in social housing. Michael Gove’s Leveling Up Department has criticized the issue (PA Wire) The report found that many tenants were reluctant to complain about health and safety risks in their homes for fear of being evicted “through no fault of their own”. When they try to enforce their legal right to a safe and secure home, they face “an inaccessible, arduous and resource-intensive legal process and the risk of retaliation,” the report said. The cross-party committee also found evidence of illegal discrimination in the sector, with 25 per cent of landlords reluctant to grant passports to non-British passport holders and 52 per cent refusing to accept tenants for Housing Allowance. The ‘partisan’ changes to private rental legislation introduced by Michael Gove’s Department of Equalization, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) in recent years have made the system even more ‘complex and difficult to navigate for tenants, landlords and local authorities’. . a committee was found. He warned that a White Paper on the sector expected later this year would be hampered by “poor understanding of sector issues by the department, including overcrowding, harassment and evictions”. Committee chair Meg Hillier said Mr. Gove should use the White Paper to begin to overturn his department’s results in dealing with “the desperate housing crisis in this country.” Housing price escalation has driven home ownership away from many Britons (PA Wire) “Unsafe conditions, overcrowding, harassment, discrimination and awkward evictions are still a huge issue in the private rental sector,” he said. “And yet the industry is a growing provider of housing and rents are constantly rising which means that safe, adequate housing is very often inaccessible to tenants. Tenants with problems face a complicated and costly remediation system that is not suitable for the purpose and many tenants give up on the first hurdle. “We have to see a change in the balance.” Generation Rent’s deputy director of housing campaign, Dan Wilson Craw, has called for a national landlord register to help councils enforce safety laws. “None of us should live in a house that could make us sick, but it can be a difficult struggle for private tenants to persuade landlords to fix anything,” said Wilson Craw. “It is possible to sue a landlord or file a complaint with your landlord’s redress system, but the fact that a landlord can evict you for no reason makes many tenants not complain at first. “As he designs a new rental system, Michael Gove needs to make sure landlords cannot use threats to evade their responsibilities.” A DLUHC spokesman said: “The councils should use the powers we have given them to crack down on rogue landlords, including fines of up to .000 30,000 and a ban on those who rent unsafe homes. “As part of our mission to improve housing conditions and enable residents to hold homeowners accountable, we will introduce new legislation to improve the quality and regulation of social housing and explore proposals for a national register of private owners in England. “We will also publish a landmark white paper this spring and consult on the introduction of a legally binding decent housing model in the private rental sector for the first time.” Ben Beadle, CEO of the National Residential Landlords Association, welcomed the report’s call for a comprehensive data-driven strategy for the private rental sector. “Very often reforms have been piecemeal, based on insufficient information to understand their real impact or how workable they are,” Beadle said. “Such a strategy must include assessing the impact of reforms on the supply of rental housing at a time when demand for it is soaring. “We agree with the committee’s concerns about the lottery with the postal code that exists to deal with fraudulent and criminal owners. Tenants and responsible landlords are frustrated by the sad lack of enforcement measures by councils that use the range of available powers to combat bad practices in the sector. However, our research shows that landlord licensing systems are not a panacea for improving this. “As ministers prepare to publish plans for further reforms, they should heed the committee’s call to better understand enforcement needs and the capacity of local authorities.”
