A new report from Shelter claims 61 per cent of private sector tenants have suffered a major problem such as damp, mould, leaking roof or windows - and that amateur, rather than intentionally rogue, landlords may be the biggest culprits.
The research, jointly authored with British Gas, says more than a quarter of landlords have no previous experience of letting out a property and 43 per cent do not regard letting as their major business.
The report claims that only one in 20 belongs to an accreditation scheme and Shelter is now calling for a mandatory national register, along the lines of the scheme advocated in the past year by the Labour Party.
The report, basing its findings on a survey of 4,500 private tenants, says “electrical hazards, animal infestations and gas leaks” are common. At least 360,000 people have had a gas leak or suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning. More than one in seven have lived with “electrical hazards” such as exposed wiring.
Leaking roofs or windows have affected one in four tenants. About 38 per cent of renters have had damp problems.
There are too many homes in Britain where people don’t feel safe or happy, says Bryan Halliday, director of sustainability at British Gas and “an increasing number of those are in the private rented sector.”
He says the most landlords take their responsibilities to their tenants very seriously but a small minority do not and it is often through ignorance rather than deliberate carelessness that they are unaware of their responsibilities.
Shelter claims that a third of privately rented homes fail the Government’s decent homes standard but “hundreds of thousands of people are evicted every year for complaining about poor conditions.”
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Comments
Dear Readers,
I'd like to point out at that many homeowners suffer leaks from windows or roofs, this is the nature of property, not just tenanted property.
Furthermore, the 38% of tenants suffering from damp are most likely suffering from condensation, a very common case of mistaken identity, I wrote a useful piece on the subject, perhaps Shelter & their sponsors British Gas could direct their surveyed populous to it -
http://ezinearticles.com/?Preventing-Damp-and-Mould-in-5-Steps&id=8806232
As always, I have respect for the support Shelter provide for those in need and agree that responsible letting is key to a strong industry but unfortunately the way in which they go about it I feel is less than the professional standards they campaign for.
As for British Gas, I really don't think anything needs to be said here.
Best
Scott
Shelter are simply a bunch of idiots with no real stories to tell so every now and again pop up with unquantifiable rubbish like this.
Worse still, labour seem to a friend of theirs so a labour government could possibly be the worse outcome for landlords in the next election.
Dear Shelter and British Gas
Please supply the breakdown for your figures. How can you arrive at 'at least' 360,000 people have had problem x or y from a survey of 4500 private tenants?
British Gas will be aware of the complaints or calls out that they receive, but unless they know how many people have had no need of their services and how that relates to the total population of people with gas appliances (and no problems), the figures are meaningless.
Makes for a good headline however.
I wonder how many tenants know/take seriously their responsibilities? Like ventilation to avoid damp/mould....
Instead of shamelessly creating ill founded scare stories aimed at harming the PRS, Shelter should refocus its efforts on trying to work with LLs constructively to drive out the few poor LLs and help the good ones develop a healthy PRS.
Shelter are a bunch of stinking liars!