Three councils given £1.2 million to crack down on slum PRS properties

Three Derbyshire councils are sharing a £1.21 million government hand-out to help them crack down on enforcement in poor quality private rental homes.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities funding will be split between Derbyshire Dales District Council and neighbouring Amber Valley Borough Council and Erewash Borough Council over the next two years. 

Each authority aims to inspect about 500 properties a year in order to make a significant impact on the PRS, says Tim Braund, Derbyshire Dales’ director of regulatory services.

The extra cash if part of a £14 million fund launched by DLUHC secretary of state Michael Gove last month as part of a plan for seven areas with high numbers of poor privately rented homes to crack down on rogue landlords and test new approaches to driving up standards.

“The funding will pay mainly for project management, staffing and associated costs, with Derbyshire Dales – which has a relatively high proportion of older properties in the private rented sector – being the lead authority,” adds Braund.

Enforcement

Amber Valley’s head of housing and growth, David Arkle (pictured), adds: “Working in partnership, we want to collectively raise the profile of successful enforcement, changing expectations and driving improvement in pilot areas and beyond, while finding the best ways to develop an evidence base of effective approaches to enforcement, and share best practice.”

The joint study will focus on building an understanding of what is needed to bring private rented properties up to the proposed Decent Homes Standard, and how landlords respond to enforcement.

Each council will kick off the project by gathering data around issues such as identifying geographical areas with the highest proportions and numbers of private rented properties and those areas that have the most non-decent homes.