A Labour council is planning a huge clampdown on private landlords.

Liverpool council is to hire seven staff immediately and 27 others later this year to enforce its selective licensing regime.

Some 46,000 rented homes are part of the scheme.

The new recruits will concentrate on issues such as unlicensed properties in flats above shops, landlords who make tenants pay rent in cash, and those landlords involved in suspected criminal activity.

In total it will mean there will be 120 staff clamping down on the private rented sector in the city.

Liverpool council is also set to consult on a new Landlord Licensing scheme to run from April 2027. 

The existing scheme only covers around 80% of privately rented properties as some areas are not included, so one of the options will be to extend it to the whole city.

Funding for the expanded team will come from the additional income raised from the Landlord Licensing scheme and other sources including HMO (Houses of Multiple Occupation) licensing fees.

Council leader Liam Robinson says: “Landlords with properties in designated areas have a legal duty to sign up for the scheme, and we now have 5,000 more properties than anticipated – which shows the size and scale of the sector in Liverpool and why we need to dedicate appropriate resources to the issue.

“By putting more boots on the ground we can make a real difference to people who are living in conditions that are simply not good enough and whose landlords are in breach the law.”