Responding to the commitment in the Levelling Up White Paper to halve the number of poor quality rented homes, Cllr Darren Rodwell, housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said:

“Councils want all tenants to be able to live in safe and secure, high-quality housing and recognise the need for measures to improve living conditions in the private rented sector.

To support a good quality local private rented offer in their communities and turn this ambition into a reality, the Government needs to ensure councils have the ability to establish landlord licensing schemes and appropriate tools and resources to support the enforcement of the quality of housing.

The private rented sector is a part of the solution to meet the housing needs of communities, but councils must also be given sufficient investment and powers to deliver more high-quality, sustainable and affordable homes and we are pleased to see the White Paper acknowledge the need to support the delivery of more council homes. This also includes reform of the Right to Buy scheme to allow for the retention of 100 per cent of receipts from the sale of homes under the scheme and the ability to set discounts locally.

A local, plan-led system is crucial in delivering on levelling up ambitions to ensure councils can deliver the right types of homes in the right places with appropriate infrastructure, and councils must be empowered to incentivise developers to bring allocated sites forward without delay.”