A council has taken over powers for enforcement in the private rental sector – and it’s started off with a warning to letting agents.

North Yorkshire council says it is clamping down on what it describes as “poor private housing standards, inadequate management of private housing and the enforcement of various legal aspects of the relationship between landlords and their tenants across the county.”

The new unitary council takes over enforcement from seven smaller authorities. 

The private rented sector represents 18.6 per cent of all homes in the county – in 2021 that equated to 51,149 homes, 8,000 more than in 2011. 

Of those properties 34.5 per cent were built pre-1900 and 51.6 per cent were constructed before 1929.

Executive member for housing, Councillor Simons Myers, says: “We have the opportunity to deliver a renewed focus on housing standards within the private sector as we work towards a more preventative service.

“A new policy will give us a balanced approach to housing enforcement work and ensure that privately rented homes are well managed, properly maintained, safe and habitable. It also gives us the ability to fine landlords, letting agents and property managers and use any income generated to further improve the service.”

The council says it will press for fines of up to £30,000 on agents and landlords who fail to comply.