A question mark has been raised over the likelihood of councils actually being able to enforce the many new measures in Labour’s Renters Rights Bill.

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) has welcomed publication of Bill but emphasises the importance of funding enforcement.

CIEH says it is concerned about the large enforcement burden that the provisions of the Bill will impose on local authorities and the need for proportionate funding that is sustained and predictable.

In particular CIEH says it supports, in principle, the proposal to apply a Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector but believes that the various housing standards need to be consolidated to provide clarity for landlords, tenants and local authorities.

CIEH has also welcomed the proposal for a new private rented sector database and has called for the database to be used as a tool to support the use of licensing schemes by local authorities.

Mark Elliott, president of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, says: 

“This Bill is a step in the right direction but needs to be accompanied by better resourcing for local authority housing enforcement teams. 

“Environmental health professionals have a crucial role to play in tackling poor housing conditions and thereby reducing ill health and saving lives.

“We have also urged the Government to use the Bill as an opportunity to make it easier for local authorities to use licensing schemes to improve housing standards.

“This could be done by enabling local authorities operating selective licensing schemes to use licence conditions to improve housing conditions, increasing the maximum duration of discretionary licensing schemes from five to ten years and removing the Secretary of State’s ability to veto selective licensing schemes covering more than 20% of the local authority area.

“We look forward to scrutinising the proposals in the Bill carefully.”