Rogue landlord crackdown needed to help vulnerable tenants, says mayor

Inspectors flagged up damp, mould, and issues with electricity and gas, which they have ordered the landlord to fix

A north-east London home left almost uninhabitable, according to inspectors, has been visited by the London mayor to highlight issues his office says nearly one in five private renters experience.

Dangerous electrics and damp at the Waltham Forest home show issues that almost 20% of London's 2.4 million private renters face, Sadiq Khan said.

Mr Khan added too many rogue landlords were getting off the hook.

He said a lack of inspectors was an issue, and announced new training.

Mr Khan said he was launching a new qualification to train more Private Rented Sector enforcement officers in local boroughs to tackle a lack of inspectors leading to landlords getting away with letting hazardous properties.

BBC London joined Mr Khan at the home in Waltham Forest, where trainee environmental health inspectors showed the issues needing to be fixed.

Helena said the damp issues in her home made her feel like a "bad mum"

Tenant Helena, who lives there with her husband and three young sons, said she was unable to clean the mould from the walls and she believed it was damaging her sons' health.

She said: "Even if you clean it, if you do anything, it's not going away.

"When you have got young kids, they start suffering with asthma and colds and my younger son, now he is getting asthma.

"So for me, I feel like I'm a bad mum because I can't do anything with this."

Mould covers the walls and paint and plaster is peeling off at the property

Mr Khan said Helena's case showed a crackdown was "desperately needed".

"It was shocking," he said. "It was heart-breaking to see three young children, one of whom has asthma, living in a sub-standard home, which is damp, which has mould. It's not right."

The landlord was contacted for comment but did not respond.

The mayor said he wanted to highlight how private tenants were at the mercy of rogue landlords because "councils have been starved of resources" to train up and send out teams of inspectors.

As well as the new qualification to train more inspectors, Mr Khan is also calling for a system where tenants can claim back money if their home is not up to scratch, and wants ministers to allow up to two years of rent to be reclaimed for properties that pose a risk of death or serious injury.

Councils have been starved of resources to train up inspectors, Mr Khan says

For London tenants paying the average rent of £1,425 a month, this could mean a pay-out of up to £34,000 for the worst landlords.

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) spokeswoman said reforms to create a fairer private rented sector were in the pipeline and a national landlord register in England was under consideration.

She said: "We've given councils robust powers to crack down on rogue landlords, including fines of up to £30,000 and banning orders on those who rent out unsafe accommodation, and we expect them to use these powers."

A National Residential Landlord Association spokeswoman said no tenant should ever have to put up with unsafe accommodation and enforcement was key.

She said: "Where standards are not being met, local authorities need to use the range of powers already available to tackle housing providers who fail to provide fit and proper housing.

"That is why improved enforcement against such landlords is at the heart of our proposals to reform the private rented sector."

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