England's councils struggling to prosecute rogue landlords

Two-thirds of councils in England have not prosecuted a single landlord in the past three years, despite receiving 300,000 complaints from tenants living in unfit homes.

- Matthew Pearce

From 2022 to 2024, nearly half of local authorities responsible for housing did not fine a landlord. More than a third did not issue any formal action against people letting out homes unlawfully in the private rental sector. Councils prosecuted just 640 landlords and issued 4,702 civil penalty notices, meaning fewer than 2% of tenant complaints led to formal enforcement.

Nye Jones, the campaigns manager at the campaign organisation Generation Rent, said: “Councils simply don’t have the resources to enforce, leaving landlords across the country not fulfilling their obligations, and renters living in awful conditions that impact their physical and mental health.”