A loophole allowing landlords to rent out squalid homes is contributing to “shameful” conditions of the type seen nearly a century ago, the head of England’s environmental health chiefs has said.
Peter Wright called for wholesale reform of how the private rented sector is regulated to address “serious systemic failings” that leave tenants at the mercy of rogue landlords.
Colleagues had seen properties in such disrepair – racked with mould, damp and rats – that they “keep officers awake at night”, he said. “There are some living conditions today that are as poor as we would have found in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. It’s shameful to feel that there are still people living in terrible conditions in 2023 in England.”
Wright, the chair of the Association of Chief Environmental Health Officers in England, spoke to the Guardian as part of a series shining a light on Britain’s private rental sector. He said landlords had been able to get away with renting out squalid homes because there was no legal minimum standard that private rented properties in England must meet, unlike in the social housing sector.
This means it is not illegal for a landlord to rent out a property with the most serious health hazards, though they must have an energy safety certificate.
It only becomes an offence when the landlord fails to comply with enforcement action, but that requires the tenant to make a complaint to their local authority. Many tenants avoid reporting problems out of fear of eviction or their rent being increased.
Scotland and Northern Ireland have tougher laws, meaning it is an offence to rent out a property in serious disrepair. Wales has a similar legal framework to England, though in 2016 it introduced a “contractual obligation” on landlords to ensure homes are “fit for human habitation”.
Wright said it was a “very, very bizarre” area of law and that should be brought into line with food safety, health and safety in workplaces, pollution control and other aspects of environmental health.
He said: “Housing is the only part of our work where you have to basically be invited in by a tenant, find the problem, tell the landlord to repair it, and then the offence is only committed when they don’t do that.”
The government has promised to reduce the number of dilapidated private rented homes in England by half, from nearly 1m, by 2030 as part of what it described as “the biggest shake-up of the private rented sector in 30 years”.
More than half a million of these properties have hazards that pose “a serious and immediate risk to a person’s health and safety” – a large proportion of these being cold, damp and mould – although the true figure is believed to be far greater.
Ministers have also promised to introduce a “decent homes standard” for the sector, bringing England’s 4.4m rented homes into line with social housing.
However, the government has not included this in the renters reform bill currently going through parliament and changes to the law are not expected imminently.
The death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died in 2020 as a direct result of black mould in the flat where he lived, prompted the housing secretary, Michael Gove, to announce tougher action on social housing landlords who fail to act promptly on hazards such as damp and moulds.
The government has tabled amendments to the social housing (regulation) bill to introduce “Awaab’s law”, which will require landlords to fix reported health hazards within specified timeframes. However, the same rules will not apply to the private rented sector, home to more than 11m people in England.
Wright said other children would die as a result of serious damp and mould given the scale of the problem: “I think because of the number of properties involved, it is inevitable we will sadly get something like that happening.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “Everyone deserves to live in a safe and decent home. That’s why the government is determined to crack down on rogue landlords who cause misery to their tenants and put their health and safety at risk.
“We are delivering a fairer private rented sector for tenants and landlords through the renters reform bill, which includes creating a new ombudsman to resolve issues quicker and empower tenants to challenge poor practice.”