Mayor of London's services protect half a million renters from rogue landlords

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has praised London renters for using his innovative online renting tools to stand up for their rights in the turbulent and unpredictable London rental market and urged the Government to follow his lead and roll them out nationally.

The Mayor’s Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker, a unique database that ‘names and shames’ landlords and lettings agents who have been successfully prosecuted or have faced civil enforcement action for housing offences, has now been used more than 388,000 times.

Meanwhile, his Property Licence Checker, launched in November 2020 to allow Londoners to find out if their rental property is properly licenced, has been accessed more than 125,000 times. The checkers empower London’s renters to make informed decisions about who they rent from.

The checkers have been viewed 128,000 times in the last year alone as many of London’s renters grapple with soaring rents and poor standards.

Further new stats from City Hall show that more than 6,000 Londoners have now used the Mayor’s Report a Rogue tool, launched in autumn 2017, to report concerns or problems with a rental property or landlord directly to enforcement teams in the relevant borough. The borough can then take action against the landlord or agent where necessary.

For London tenants paying the average rent of £2,343 a month, this could mean a pay-out of up to £56,000. Nearly a fifth of privately rented homes (18 per cent) fail the Government’s Decent Homes standard.

Renters would feel more secure raising complaints about the condition of their property if they didn’t face the threat of arbitrary eviction, which is why the Mayor has long called for Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions to be finally abolished too.

Last week the Mayor convened a landmark City Hall summit of private renters, charities, advocates and politicians after it was revealed that 40 per cent of Londoners think they will struggle to meet their rent payments in the next six months.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “I’m determined to continue standing up for London’s renters by cracking down on rogue landlords. London’s 2.6m private renters deserve a decent home at an affordable price, let from a fair and honest landlord.

“If we are to continue building a better London for everyone, it’s essential that we continue to stand up for and empower renters. We’re doing everything we can in London, but we also need the Government to step up. This must include creating the long-promised National Rogue Landlord database, properly funding borough enforcement teams and increasing the fines for landlords who break the rules.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily