Brian Stanley: Private Rentals, Damp and Rising Rents
Brian Stanley highlights poor conditions in private rental flats in County Leash, pointing to damp, mould, weak energy ratings and soaring rents, and urges the government to act. He cites inspection data, retrofit progress and the end of Midlands Just Transition Fund support as reasons for continued funding and stronger enforcement.
Inspection findings
Brian Stanley presents figures from Leash County Council inspections: of 5,600 private rental households, 227 were inspected and 176 received notices to improve. He uses these figures to argue that a large share of older private rental stock is in very poor condition and creating health problems for tenants.
Health and energy impact
Stanley links dampness, mould and poor ventilation to health harms and stresses that many properties are poorly insulated with high energy costs. He emphasises the burden on low and middle income renters who face steep rents, expensive electricity meters and rising living costs.
Retrofit progress and funding gap
He acknowledges retrofit work already under way in Leash County Council stock, noting around 250 older units receiving deep retrofit and other units with minor upgrades. He warns that much of this progress relied on the Midlands Just Transition Fund, which has run out, and calls for sustained government funding to continue upgrades.
Policy demands and enforcement
Brian Stanley urges stronger enforcement standards for private rentals and council housing and says landlords must be made responsible for improving energy ratings. He argues that tenants should not pay the highest rents for the worst accommodation with the most expensive electricity, and presses the government to act on funding and regulation.
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Firstly I want to say that I fully support the proposals being put forward here to improve the accommodation for people living in the flat complexes in the city. I've been to many of them over the years and I've seen first hand what the difficult conditions that people are living in. I'll just turn in relation to private rental accommodation and apartments. In County Leash there's 5,600 households that are living in private rental accommodation. A lot of them are flats and apartments. Some of the older private rental stock is in very bad condition. Tenants complain to me about dampness, mould, poor ventilation and impossible to heat and this does create health issues. It's not just a housing issue, it creates a health issue as well. Tenants in private rental accommodation are often reluctant to complain because it's followed up by an inspection from the council and that can lead to a notice to quit and I've seen examples of that where a notice to quit follows the inspection. Of the 5,600 private rental homes, 227 were inspected last year by the Leash County Council inspections offer inspector and of them, and this is a telling figure, 176 got a notice to improvement. That's 80% of the landlords of those properties got a notice to improve them, which shows that some are in very bad condition. That high percentage. Tenants then can often get a notice to quit as I said and after a period of time then the flat or house is re-let. Much of the private rental stock has a very poor energy rating and this is well known. Every TD here knows this. Very poor insulation, very poor energy rating and in turn they have sky high energy costs because they're heated by very expensive electricity meters and of course we know now today we have the highest electricity costs in the European Union. So we must change this and on top of all that, rents in the county, in County Leash, continue to skyrocket. A two bedroom flat is now making 1,600 euros plus. A three bedroom house, there's examples of in excess of 2,000 per month for a three bedroom house. In fact there's one that's advertised, one house is advertised for 3,000 per month. And those on low and middle incomes are living in private rental accommodation. They're the ones hardest hit because they're not on fuel allowance, they don't have any other supports and they're paying for a whole range of other things as well such as health costs, commuting, some of them as far as the city, to work every day. They're really being caught. They're paying high rents, every increase in high energy costs and high costs in everything else. So the Leash County Council part of it, the housing stock, a lot of it's fairly new, built in recent years. That's in fairly good condition and a lot of it has a reasonably good energy rating. But there's a lot of the stock that has to be improved as well. There's over 2,400 in the county. At the moment there's 250 of the older stock being retrofitted, deep retrofitted. Some others have had more minor energy upgrades. And that's been successful. But it needs more money because the Midlands Just Transition Fund that was funded, mainly funded that minister, that's running out. That has now run out. So it needs government funding to keep that going. So I want to urge the government to keep the funding going for the Leash County Council houses, the remaining, particularly the older ones that need further upgrading. I also want to urge the government to ensure that the enforcement standards are improved for private rental accommodation and for council housing as well, including what we've spoken about earlier on. We need to put the onus on landlords to improve the energy rating of the rental stock also. We can't have tenants paying the highest rents in the worst accommodation with the most expensive electricity. Thank you.
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