The government must do more to protect private renters, according to a new report from the cross-party Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee.
The committee welcomed the government’s decision Tenants’ rights reforms. But she said more action was needed to improve housing standards and protect vulnerable tenants.
committee report, Housing conditions in the private rented sectorcalls for incentives to help landlords meet the new Decent Homes Standard before the 2035 deadline. It also wants to impose tougher penalties on landlords who break the rules.
The committee said the OAP should be extended to the private rented sector from 2026. It wants legal deadlines to fix critical risks across the sector by the end of 2028/29 to be implemented.
Committee chairwoman MP Florence Eshalomi said the reforms could improve housing conditions. But she warned that it needed to be backed up with stronger enforcement.
She called on councils to obtain sufficient funding and powers to implement the new rules. She also said a planned private rented sector database should help renters check whether their landlords and homes meet the required standards.
Eshalomi said poor housing conditions were linked to the broader housing crisis. She urged the government to publish a long-term housing strategy to increase the supply of social and affordable housing.
The report said renters still bear much of the burden when challenging poor housing. Many have to rely on the courts, councils or ombudsman. The committee called for a review of whether the councils have sufficient powers and resources to implement the standards.
It also warned that new minimum energy efficiency standards could fail without proper implementation.
The Commission wants the private rented sector database to include information on landlords, ownership conditions and enforcement procedures. It also wants tenants to be able to report concerns through the system.
The report supported the wider use of selective licensing in areas suffering from housing poverty. She said ministers must remove barriers preventing councils from using these schemes.
The committee also called for stronger protections for low-income tenants. She warned that excessive rent hikes could become a form of “economic eviction”. Rent controls were rejected.
Instead, she said the government should ensure that the first-tier court quickly deals with disputes over above-market rent increases.
The report also repeated calls to return the local housing allowance to at least the 30th percentile of market rents. She said this would reduce the risk of homelessness and poor quality housing.
In response to the report, Ben Biddle, chief executive of the National Association of Residential Landlords, said: “We welcome the committees’ recognition that most tenants are satisfied with their homes, and that the majority of landlords provide safe, decent and comfortable homes.
“The committee is right that improving standards requires a combination of incentives to support landlords to meet the decent homes standards planned sooner than 2035, with improved enforcement to root out rogue landlords and criminals who have no business operating within the sector.
“We are pleased that the Committee has taken into account many of the NRLA’s recommendations on enforcement, including the need to better understand council capacity, improve transparency around local enforcement activity, and ensure that the Private Rented Sector Database (PRS) helps responsible landlords demonstrate compliance.
“However, we fundamentally reject the idea that it should be easier for councils to introduce landlord licensing schemes. Licensing can be an effective tool when used sparingly and in a focused way. Allowing local authorities carte blanche to apply it will only duplicate the information councils will be able to obtain from a well-designed PRS database.”
