TWO councils have been given a cash boost to help their fight against rogue landlords.

Southampton City Council and Test Valley Borough Council are among a number of local authorities in the south to be given the cash to crackdown on criminal landlords and letting agents.

The funding will be used by councils to take enforcement action against these landlords and advise tenants of their housing rights.

This action will the Government’s ongoing work to make the private rented sector fairer and stamp out criminal practices for good.

The £790,000 in funding was revealed by, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick He said:  “It’s completely unacceptable that a minority of unscrupulous landlords continue to break the law and provide homes which fall short of the standards we rightly expect – making lives difficult for hard-working tenants who just want to get on with their lives.

“Everyone deserves to live in a home that is safe and secure and the funding announced today for the South East will strengthen councils’ powers to crack down on poor landlords and drive up standards in the private rented sector for renters across the country.” 

Councils already have strong powers to force landlords to make necessary improvements to a property through use of a range of measures, including civil penalties and banning orders for the worst offenders. 

  The grants will support a range of projects to enable councils to make the best use of these powers.

This will include trialling innovative ideas, sharing best practice and targeted enforcement where we know landlords shirk their responsibilities.

There are more than 4.5 million households in the private rented sector in England, with recent statistics showing that 82% of private renters are satisfied with their accommodation.