At Housing Committee on 28 September, Labour Councillors brought forward plans for a strong ethical landlords’ charter to drive up standards for renters in the private rental sector, as well as plans for the council to publicise a database in line with Labour’s zero-tolerance policy on rogue landlords.

Labour Councillors slammed the Green administration for their lack of action in pursuing a selective landlord licencing scheme or taking enforcement action against rogue landlords to improve outcomes for renters.

Labour Councillors were left exasperated at the lack of recent efforts taken by the Council to address the insecurity, discrimination and unjust evictions faced by residents in the private rental sector, and once again called for action.

Labour’s housing spokesperson, Cllr Gill Williams said:

“We’ve won agreement from Housing Committee on a number of occasions to commit to the introduction of selective licencing for private landlords. We secured funding for this months ago, yet we find there has been no action. I am exasperated!

“In February 2020, Labour pushed for Budget Council to agree additional funding of £150K for the Private Sector Housing Team to enable a more proactive approach to enforcement to help to raise standards, yet there have still been no prosecutions of rogue landlords despite a volume of evidence.

“In November 2021 Housing Committee agreed Labour’s plans to adopt a zero-tolerance policy on rogue landlords and make a database available in accordance with section 4.5 of Rogue Landlord Enforcement Guidance for Local Authorities. There has been no progress on this whatsoever.

“This Green administration seem to think that a half-baked attempt at bungling together an ethical landlords’ charter without appropriate consultation will distract us from the disturbingly poor record. Well, it just won’t cut it.

“This lack of action is unacceptable. Private renters make up a third of our city and they are being badly let down.

“Disrepair and poor, unsafe conditions are a common issue for renters in our city.  Renters suffer discrimination, insecure tenancies and no-fault evictions. This is why we must strive to take all measures possible to drive up and guarantee decent conditions and standard for renters in our city. Why is this not happening?”