The government said it wanted the funding, initially announced in November 2018, to be spent on new ways of tackling rogue landlords and to improve the standard of privately rented housing across the country.
Projects green-lighted included:
- the use of drones and thermal mapping in Walsall to identify homes with leaky rooves or poor insulation
- a combined £330,000 for Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Greater London Authority to tackle rogue landlords operating across multiple local authorities in their regions
- an unspecified amount for a training programme for existing enforcement staff for Lancaster council.
Wheeler said: “Everyone has the right to live in a home that is safe and secure, and it is vital we crack down on the small minority of landlords who are not giving their tenants this security.
“This extra funding will further boost councils’ ability to root out rogue landlords and ensure that poor-quality homes in the area are improved, making the housing market fairer for everyone.”
Judith Blake, housing spokesman for the Local Government Association, said: “It is good that the government has announced a funding boost for councils to help ensure the small minority of rogue landlords improve standards.”
Nearly 850,000 households reported that they were unhappy with their private rented sector accommodation, according to recent government data.
Councils were granted greater powers to crack down on rogue landlords in April 2017 and January last year .
Although, the Residential Landlord Association has accused councils of not using these powers, calculating that of November last year 89% of councils had not used the new powers and 67% had not started a single prosecution against a private landlord. Local authorities have argued this is due to a lack of funding.
