Andy Burnham has pledged a crackdown on poor-quality homes in the private rented sector, warning that landlords who let out the worst properties could be issued formal warnings and, in the most serious cases, have their homes taken over by local councils. Speaking at the Labour Party conference, Burnham also said he wanted to reform Right to Buy and address the ongoing problem of empty homes, as reported by Property118. For landlords, particularly those with older or lower-spec properties, this is a clear signal that housing quality is moving further up the political agenda.
The details of exactly how enforcement would work, what counts as "worst-quality", and what powers councils would actually be given have not been set out in full. But the direction of travel is unmistakable: government is prepared to talk about intervention that goes beyond fines, right up to the point of councils stepping in to take control of a property. That is a significant escalation in tone, even before any legislation or formal policy detail follows.
What this means for landlords right now
Nothing changes overnight. This is a political pledge made at a party conference, not a new law or regulation that landlords need to comply with today. But it does add to a pattern that has been building for some time, with successive governments tightening expectations around energy efficiency, damp and mould, and general property condition in the rented sector. Landlords who have been putting off repairs or upgrades, hoping standards would stay where they are, should treat this as another reminder that the bar is likely to keep rising rather than staying still.
For landlords with a portfolio that includes older stock, particularly homes bought some years ago and never significantly modernised, the sensible response is to start assessing where the gaps are before any formal requirements land. That might mean addressing damp, upgrading heating systems, or dealing with general disrepair that could otherwise attract attention under future enforcement regimes. Landlords weighing up whether to fund that kind of work through remortgaging or restructuring existing borrowing may want to look at options such as buy-to-let refinancing, which can free up capital against a property's value to cover improvement costs without necessarily needing to sell.
Wider housing pledges add to the picture
Burnham's comments were not limited to the private rented sector. He also raised reform of Right to Buy and tackling the number of empty homes across the country, both long-standing issues that touch on the broader housing supply problem. None of this has been translated into firm policy yet, but taken together it suggests a government keen to be seen acting across several fronts at once: quality in the rented sector, access to homeownership through Right to Buy, and bringing unused housing stock back into use.
For tenants, the pledge on rental quality is likely to be welcome, particularly for those currently living in homes with unresolved issues around damp, disrepair or poor insulation. For landlords, it is another data point suggesting that compliance costs and expectations are heading in one direction. Buyers and homeowners are less directly affected, though anyone considering purchasing a property to let out should factor rising quality expectations into their calculations from the outset, rather than treating minimum standards as a fixed target.
What landlords should do while details are unclear
With no firm legislation yet in place, the most useful thing landlords can do is get ahead of the issue rather than wait for it to become mandatory. That means an honest audit of property condition, particularly around damp, mould, heating efficiency and general safety, and a realistic view of what upgrades might cost. Where cash flow is tight, some landlords are likely to look at restructuring finance to release equity for improvement work rather than facing a scramble later if and when enforcement becomes concrete.
