Over 100 councils have not dealt with bad landlords

According to new research, more than 100 local authorities have failed to prosecute a single bad landlord.

A freedom of information request by Public Interest Lawyers found that 115 councils in England and Wales – or 46% of the 252 who replied – confirmed they didn’t pursue any prosecutions between April 2019 and March 2024.

A further 49 councils only took court action against a single landlord.

The data also showed that just 1,260 prosecutions were reported across the five-year period, equating to one per 335 complaints made by concerned tenants.

Failure to prosecute rogue landlords has been put down to local authorities' lack of resources.

How to report repairs if you rent from a council or housing association

Your social housing landlord is responsible for dealing with most repairs to your home if you rent from them.

But you are responsible for informing them about what repairs need to be carried out. They are not responsible for the work until they are aware of it.

You should report repairs as soon as you notice them, even minor ones.

If you report a repair over the phone or in person, follow up in writing and keep copies of your correspondence as evidence.

What if your landlord doesn’t sort out the repairs?

Every social housing landlord is required to have a complaints policy, which you can usually find on their website.

You can make a formal complaint to your landlord if they:

• Don’t carry out the repair work
• Are slow to do the work
• Carry out the inspection but haven’t followed through with the work
• Have carried out the repair but it’s poor quality

It’s best to make your complaint in writing so you have evidence of your correspondence.

Your landlord should confirm that they’ve received your complaint within 5 working days. They must then provide a written response within 10 working days of sending you confirmation.

If you’re unhappy with your landlord’s response, you can ask them for a ‘stage 2 consideration’. This means someone else will review your complaint and decide on the outcome.

If you’re still unhappy with the outcome or your landlord hasn’t responded, you can ask the Housing Ombudsman to review your complaint.

The Ombudsman will work with you and your landlord to help reach an agreement.

If you can’t agree, the Ombudsman will investigate what happened. They will then decide whether you have been treated fairly.