Southwark Council has announced a new consultation into to expanding its landlord licensing scheme.
A third of people are now private renters in Southwark, many of whom are trapped in expensive but bad quality housing.
Council leader Kieron Williams said: “We want to ensure everyone who is renting privately in Southwark has a decent home, with good standards of security, safety and quality.
“Having invested significantly in landlord licensing over the past few years we are now looking to take this further with proposals for new property licensing schemes covering over 90 per cent of the borough’s private rented homes.
“If you are renting in Southwark, I encourage you to visit the consultation and see what we’re doing to help and to let us know how we can better support you.
“Landlords are encouraged to take part and find out how we are working to support good landlords. All residents and business owners are encouraged to take part and provide feedback on our proposals – all views are important and can make a real difference to how we work to transform private renting in Southwark”.
Since 2016 the council has set up two licensing programmes. One focused on ‘small houses in multiple occupation’ across the whole borough, while action on single family homes was targeted to key trunk roads and high streets.
Since then, 35 private landlords have been prosecuted, more than £55,000 was confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act, 451 informal notices served over housing hazards, 313 formal notices served, and 200 privately rented homes now have a valid gas safety certificate.
For more information, visit the council’s website.