The Labour Party has committed to extending a crackdown on social housing landlords who fail to fix mouldy homes, to include private landlords as well.

Measures forcing social housing landlords to repair unsafe homes have been proposed by the government and Labour deputy leader and shadow housing secretary Angela Rayner says her party would extend the planned law to private landlords too.

Speaking on ITV, Rayner said: “[There are] 1.6m children living in mouldy, damp or cold houses in the private sector …  You can’t distinguish between social landlords and private landlords if you’re renting a property. Mould is mould.”

She continued: “I’ve got relatives and friends who are too frightened to raise concerns about their landlord and the conditions of the house because they may be made homeless through Section 21 notices – the no-fault evictions – and … they’re really frightened about the future for their families.”

She went on to say that there has to be enforcement of existing and any future rules on repair times and quality, but she linked that issue to the shortage of supply, saying that some families have had to move 200 miles to find appropriate homes once their private properties have been deemed unsuitable. The knock of effects of children’s schooling and parents keeping work was a “real problem.”

“We have to do something about supply” she told the Good Morning show on ITV.

Earlier this month the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government began consulting on a clamp down on rogue social landlords who fail to provide safe homes. It proposes introducing new strict time limits for social housing providers and force them to take swift action in addressing dangerous hazards such as damp and mould.

It also proposes new legal requirements for social landlords to investigate hazards within 14 days, start fixing within a further seven days, and make emergency repairs within 24 hours. Those landlords who fail can be taken to court where they may be ordered to pay compensation for tenants.  
  
Social landlords will be expected to keep clear records to improve transparency for tenants – showing every attempt is made to comply with the new timescales so they can no longer dither and delay to rectify people’s homes.   

However, the government has ruled out a comparable law for private landlords.

* Last evening Angela Rayner herself tweeted:  “Mould is mould. There is no justification for letting private landlords off the hook for resolving mould and damp issues in their properties. The Tories are refusing to extend protections to private renters. A Labour Government will.”