21/05/2015

Rogue Landlords Putting Profit Before Safety - Citizens Advice

Rogue landlords are raking in £5.6bn a year for unsafe homes that fail to meet legal standards, a study has revealed.

740,000 households in England live in privately rented homes that present a severe threat to tenants' health, according to a major Citizens Advice study.

The latest available data shows these properties contain 510,000 children and 180,000 have a disabled person.

Landlords are receiving £5.6bn a year on rent for homes with category 1 hazards, which includes £1.3bn of housing benefit.

Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said: "With a growing private rental sector, increasing numbers of people – including more than 500,000 children – are falling prey to landlords who fail to meet decent standards.

"The Government has rightly said it wants to tackle the country's housing crisis – it must make targeting dodgy landlords, giving tenants better rights and driving up standards a major part of that effort."

(CD/JP)

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