More than 4,500 complaints have been made in four years about poor living conditions in rented Nottingham homes.
Nottingham City Council says some of the problems being ignored by private rented landlords include rat and cockroach infestations, dangerous wiring and ‘filthy’ conditions.
The authority has been running a crackdown on what it calls ‘rogue landlords’ – owners who typically have a high number of tenants in single properties and flout rules on living standards.
Officers have been encouraging tenants to come forward so the worst cases can be taken to court to force improvements.
Since April 2013 the council has received 4,502 complaints – 933 of them this year.
The Government has given extra funding to tackle the problem, including a £151,000 grant in January to help the council’s Community Protection department carry out more checks and prosecutions.
Councillor Jane Urquhart, portfolio holder for housing, said: “We have seen some shocking cases where we have had to take action against landlords prepared to allow tenants to live in properties that are frankly squalid and unsafe.
“Unfortunately it’s an increasing problem, as reflected in the growing number of complaints we are receiving, which is why we have initiatives in place to tackle rogue landlords and support better quality privately rented accommodation in the city.”
In the last four years, 1,866 properties have been improved after the council intervened to force landlords to act.
In some cases tenants have even won back rent repayments after landlords were successfully prosecuted.
But in total there have only been 19 prosecutions and cautions issued to rogue landlords.
In one recent case a landlord was fined more than £27,000, just two years after being fined £25,000 over another property on the same street, Mansfield Road.
Zain Khan of Mayo Road, Nottingham, pleaded guilty in September to several housing offences. Officers found that fire alarms weren’t working, there was a lack of fire doors and escape routes were blocked.
One whole floor had no central heating and there was a boiler leak and exposed live electrical wires in the building.
Within a few weeks a second landlord had been fined £29,000 after a rental property on Alfreton Road was found to be in a “filthy and in verminous condition” with a rat infestation.
Nottingham HMO Ltd, directed by Nazaquat Azam and previously by Yusif McCallum until 30 November 2015, was found guilty of breaching healthy and safety rules.
Inspectors also found the property had no working fire detection system and fire doors were damaged.
Cllr Urquhart added: “These cases emphasise that the council will not tolerate neglectful landlords who do not take the health and safety of their tenants seriously. Rogue landlords can fully expect to be prosecuted by us.
“Residents in Nottingham have the right to live in a safe home, and our housing teams work hard with other agencies to ensure this happens.”
