Local authorities across England are spending £11m less on dealing with problem landlords than in 2009-10.
Researchers at the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) found that councils spent £44.5m on housing standard activities, but government figures show this has dropped to £33.5m.
There are more than 150 Acts of Parliament, containing over 400 regulations affecting private renting, but the RLA analysis points to them not being enforced properly.
Better enforcement backed up by greater funding is key to “driving out the minority of landlords who can make life a misery for tenants and bring the sector into disrepute,” the report concluded.
The RLA concluded that the problem is cyclical – councils do not have the power or resources to “kick start the process” by bringing action against landlords who break the law and thus generate funds from penalties levied. This lack of resources stops them raising the money to fund any future action against other criminal landlords.
A £2m fund for councils to tackle problem landlords was recently established by the government, but RLA experts “do not believe that one-off pots of money provide the certainty for councils to be able to plan long-term for enforcement action.”