The Generation Rent campaign group says the latest English Housing Survey shows that 23 per cent of private rented homes fail decency standards, 14 per cent are unsafe, and 11 per cent have a damp problem.

The most recent English Housing Survey relates to 2021-22 and has been published today by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Baroness Alicia Kennedy, director of Generation Rent, says: “Homes are critical to our health and wellbeing. Damp and unsafe homes are making too many private renters ill.  This winter more of us are struggling to afford to keep our homes warm, putting us at greater risk of ill-health.

“We urgently need the Renters Reform Bill to raise minimum standards that renters can expect from their homes, and give them the security of tenure they need to complain without fear of eviction.

“And if the government is serious about eradicating the scourge of damp and mould, ministers must give tenants better legal support to take action against negligent landlords.”

The campaigners also say that the EHS shows private rented homes are more likely to be poorly insulated – 56 per cent had EPC band D to G, while only 31 per cent of social rented properties fell into that category.

In June this year the White Paper A Fairer Private Rented Sector set out the government’s plans to abolish Section 21 evictions, introduce a landlord register via a new portal, and make private rented property subject to the Decent Homes Standard currently applied to social rented property.

The Renters Reform Bill is to be published by the government sometime in 2023.