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14/7/25 8:13 pm
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Local councils fined landlords at least £26.4 million from 2022 to 2024 for housing offences as new figures reveal the impact of cutbacks on housing enforcement teams.
The government has announced £18 million in “burdens funding” to help authorities prepare for enforcing the Renters’ Rights Act. Councils will get new enforcement measures and investigatory powers on 27th December so they can gather evidence about suspected breaches and offences, however, councils and housing experts have warned that the funding falls far short of what is needed to make the reforms work.
The Guardian reports that 252 councils responded to its Freedom of Information request. This reveals that two-thirds of councils in England haven’t prosecuted any landlords in the past three years, despite receiving 300,000 complaints from tenants living in unfit homes. Nearly half of local authorities responsible for housing did not fine a landlord, while more than a third did not issue any formal action against people letting out homes unlawfully in the PRS.
Councils prosecuted just 640 landlords and issued 4,702 civil penalty notices, and of those only 16 have been banned from letting homes.
Tom Hunt, chair of the Local Government Association’s inclusive growth committee (pictured), says councils have seen a huge reduction in their budget. “That has meant that key specialist roles, which are not always fulfilling statutory duties, have been lost – and many staff have moved into the private sector.”
Henry Dawson, a former enforcement officer and now lecturer in housing regulation at Cardiff Metropolitan University, reports that council funding for enforcement has fallen by an average of about 41%, with staff numbers falling by more than a third between 2010 and 2020. “If they were to take on prosecution or to handle an appeal of a formal legal notice, then that could effectively remove them from their day-to-day work for months,” he adds.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson admits the rate at which councils were enforcing was “not good enough” and that the Renters’ Rights Act will legally require councils to crack down on rule-breaking landlords.
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