Ministers urge councils to get tough on rogue landlords and "beds in sheds"

Ministers have called on local authorities to prosecute rogue landlords in new guidance on the powers councils can use to tackle the problem of so-called “beds in sheds”.

The guidance – launched by Housing Minister Grant Shapps and Immigration Minister Damian Green – is also intended to deal with wider examples of bad practice by landlords, including overcrowding and poor maintenance.

The Department for Communities and Local Government claimed that thousands of sheds and outbuildings were being rented out illegally to vulnerable migrants by landlords who charged them extortionate rents to live in cramped conditions.

The guidance calls on local authorities to take swift and decisive action.

“It is important that local authorities take leadership on this issue and prioritise action as tackling rogue landlords can improve the quality of life for a whole community,” it claimed.

The guidance urges council to prosecute landlords – particularly those who persistently let illegal property – and deter others “by building effective cases and publicising successful prosecutions”.

Evidence of a landlord’s earnings should also be provided to magistrates so that those convicted receive an appropriate level of fines for their offences.

The ministers called on councils to work with a new national taskforce that has been set up between Government departments, the police, local authorities and the UK Border Agency.

The guidance, Dealing with rogue landlords, includes annexes setting out local authority powers and the powers of other agencies.

Housing Minister Grant Shapps said: "It's simply unacceptable that people are living in squalid, unsafe accommodation provided by landlords more interested in a quick profit rather then their basic responsibilities.

"The actions of these rogue landlords are helping fuel illegal working and benefit fraud and creates a shadow housing market that carries dangers to peoples health as well as community relations.”

Shapps said he wanted to see agencies from councils to the police and the UK Border Agency using the full range of powers at their disposal to work together “on a national clampdown towards ridding our communities of this problem once and for all".

A copy of the guidance can be viewed here. 

Philip Hoult