The number of laws creating an obligation on private landlords has increased by 32 per cent since 2010 according to new analysis undertaken by a leading landlords organisation.

The Residential Landlords Association claims the total number of regulations affecting landlords has increased to 156, up from 118 when the Conservative-led coalition government first came to power.

The RLA is warning the increase in legislation has not led to an improvement in enforcement action against criminal landlords and many councils are failing to properly use the powers they already have.

Previous research by the RLA found that in 2017/18, two thirds of councils had not commenced any prosecutions against private landlords. In the same year, 89 per cent of councils told the RLA they had not used new powers to issues Civil Penalties of up to £30,000 against private landlords for a range of offences. Over half, 53 per cent, did not have a policy in place to properly use the power.

Against a rising tide of regulation and poor levels of enforcement the RLA called on all political parties to commit to improving enforcement of the powers already available rather than introduce new legislation which councils will be unable to use to root out the crooks.

In its manifesto for the General Election the RLA proposed scrapping licensing schemes which serve only to penalise good landlords while enabling the criminals to operate under the radar.

Instead, councils should use the wide range of data already available to them, including council tax, benefits, tenancy deposit and electoral roll information to identify landlords. This needs to be backed up by central government providing a multi-year funding settlement to properly resource enforcement.

David Smith, policy director for the RLA said:

“Removing criminal landlords from the sector will only be achieved if councils have the resources and the will to properly use the wide range of powers they already have.”

“Piling more regulations onto the sector which will continue not to be properly enforced is meaningless and serves only to put off good landlords from providing the homes to rent we need. It is time for smarter enforcement, not more regulation.”

By Patrick Mooney, Editor