A senior council figure has called for rent caps to tackle what she calls “rogue landlords”.

Gateshead Council’s cabinet member for children and young people, Councillor Catherine Donovan, wants the controls to protect vulnerable tenants in private properties. 

Figures from the North East Combined Authority (NECA) – which includes Gateshead’s Labour controlled council – shows 30% of children throughout Durham, Northumberland, Gateshead, Newcastle, North and South Tyneside and Sunderland live in relative poverty after housing costs.

Donovan told a recent meeting of the council that a private tenant in her ward recently took a landlord to a tribunal after allegedly raising rent following a complaint regarding damp and rat issues.

She told the meeting: “All of that is hard but if you’re in a council house then that’s possibly easier but the effect of the insecurity of tenure in my opinion is one of the biggest challenges we face. People in a Tyneside flat in Bensham are paying about £800 a month and possibly more if you complain.”