Private landlords are providing unsafe properties

Private landlords are providing a significant number of unsafe properties.

740,000 families renting from private landlords were said to be paying £5.6bn a year for unsafe houses, which do not conform to the law.

A new study by charity Citizen Advice has revealed that a significant number of private landlords in Britain provide properties that encompass a series of undeniable health and safety risks, such as risks of explosion, damp and rat infestations.

Figures show that tenants are currently paying an average price of £157 a week to live in such houses.

The charity’s chief executive Gillian Guy called for the Government to take measures against such Private landlords: “The Government must make targeting dodgy landlords, giving tenants better rights and driving up standards a major part of that effort.”

These Private landlords provide homes with Category 1 hazards. Thes host 510.000 children and 180.000 disabled tenants. Indeed, 16% of privately rented homes are considered physically unsafe to live in, 10% of them entailed a risk of dangerous fall, while 8% have a considerably high rate of damp and 6% a considerably low temperature.

Alan Ward from Residential Landlords Association claimed that rules for private landlords should be reviewed and enforced, in order to provide tenants with decent standards of living.

“No tenant should ever have to put up with unsafe housing, and those landlords that wilfully provide such accommodation have no place in the market.”