Councils get £1.21m to tackle poor quality rented homes

Three councils have been handed £1.21 million of government cash in a bid to tackle poor quality rented homes over the next two years.

The Derbyshire councils have been handed the money by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in a bid to help those areas with the ‘greatest need’.

The councils are Derbyshire Dales District Council, Amber Valley Borough Council and Erewash Borough Council.

‘This is an exciting partnership project’

Tim Braund, the director of regulatory services at Derbyshire Dales, said: “While there is still considerable detail to be worked out, this is an exciting partnership project.

“To make a significant impact on the private rented sector across the three authority areas we think it’s reasonable to aim to inspect around 500 properties per authority per 12-month period of the study.”

He added: “The funding will pay mainly for project management, staffing and associated costs, with Derbyshire Dales – which has a relatively high proportion of older properties in the private rented sector – being the lead authority.”

‘Bring privately rented homes up to the proposed Decent Homes Standard’

The councils’ main aim for the cash will be to bring privately rented homes up to the proposed Decent Homes Standard and how landlords in their areas ‘respond to enforcement’.

David Arkle, Amber Valley‘s head of housing, said: “It’s important to stress that the vast majority of private landlords provide a great service; it’s only a small minority that let down the sector.

“Working in partnership we want to collectively raise the profile of successful enforcement, changing expectations and driving improvement in pilot areas and beyond, while finding the best ways to develop an evidence base of effective approaches to enforcement and share best practices.”

Highest number of ‘non-decent’ homes

To begin with, the councils will undertake a lot of intelligence gathering such as identifying those areas with the highest numbers and proportion of privately rented homes, along with the areas that have the highest number of ‘non-decent’ homes.

Erewash Borough Council’s lead member for health and wellbeing, Coun Paul Maginnis, said: “The funding will enable the council to prioritise tackling poor quality private rented sector properties in the borough, and help us to build an understanding of what is needed to bring private rented sector properties up to the proposed Decent Homes Standard.”