Meet the enforcers taking on the worst landlords in this housing crisis. They work for England’s councils and their job is to help renters by finding bad landlords and punishing them the problem is, they say they’re losing the fight.

[Watch previous episodes in our Rent Crisis series here:    • Rent crisis: is it time to get rid of...  ]

Around 1.6 million people in England are privately renting homes that pose an imminent risk to their health and safety.

And when landlords fail to act, renters are advised to go to their local council for help.

But based on data obtained from 252 councils in England, we can reveal the majority of councils have issued fewer than 10 financial penalties to rogue landlords in the last 5 years.

And many have issued none at all.

The renters reform bill making its way through parliament promises to give more power to councils to do that.

But the sector is already at breaking point and environmental health officers say they’re doing all they can, even if they want to do more.

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Reporter Milena Dambelli
Camera Holly Snelling and Matthew Lucas
Editor Matthew Lucas
Executive Producer Kieron Bryan



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