Sheffield council claims it receives 2,000 complaints relating to private rental sector conditions each year - and in one month it says it has secured a record number of convictions.
During November, the authority took seven landlords to court for offences relating to disrepair, safety measures, failing to meet legal requirements, harassment or illegal eviction.
All seven pleaded guilty or were found guilty, with the largest fine and court costs awarded at £29,220.
Every year the council responds to around 2,000 complaints about private housing, with most relating to safety, damp and cold.
In the last six months the authority has prosecuted nine landlords and says it has more court cases pending for early in the New Year.
“We had a particularly busy time in November and prosecuted some landlords that engaged in really bad practices” claims a council spokeswoman.
“Everyone has the right to live in safe housing and be treated in a respectful, lawful way, but sadly that’s not always the case. We see people who have been badly treated, put at risk or exploited, and we will do whatever we can to clamp down on this” she adds.
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I managed to get the stats for my LA. There were 'many' complaints about the PRS, but only 'two' made by Council house tenants...it turns out that because all the LA's social housing has been put under the control of their 'regeneration partner' third party, when one of the tenants calls the Council's main number to complain, they pass it through to the partner organisation who's figures fall outside of those official stats of the LA's.
Maybe to 'level the playing field' PRS landlords should be the ones to inspect social housing complaints…
I asked about such information some time ago and nobody responded. My question was simple how many complaints do councils receive for their rented property. Seems that if all landlords had a management company and the agent deals with any complaints then the landlord can show quite legitimately just a few if any complaints against them.
2000 complaints, but no stats as to how many were upheld
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