There are big question marks over whether councils will be able to police the new Renters’ Rights Act, with enforcement teams already overstretched and most local authorities failing to take action against rogue landlords.

Data obtained by The Guardian under Freedom of Information laws has revealed that more than 300,000 tenant complaints were made about unsafe or unlawful rentals between 2022 and 2024, but just 640 landlords were prosecuted, and 4,702 civil penalty notices were issued.

2% results in formal action

And fewer than 2% of those complaints resulted in any formal action being taken, with two-thirds of English councils not prosecuting anyone at all during the period.

From May 2026, the Renters’ Rights Act will legally oblige councils to take enforcement action, with minimum fines of £7,000 and penalties of up to £40,000 for serious breaches. Unlike the current regime, authorities will no longer be able to rely on informal warnings or decline cases on cost grounds.

Councils simply don’t have the resources to enforce, leaving landlords across the country not fulfilling their obligation.”

Campaigners say the gap between regulation and enforcement is widening. Nye Jones, Campaigns Manager at Generation Rent, says: “Councils simply don’t have the resources to enforce, leaving landlords across the country not fulfilling their obligations, and renters living in awful conditions that impact their physical and mental health.”

And former enforcement officer Henry Dawson estimates that council enforcement budgets have fallen by 41% since 2010, with staff numbers down by more than a third. Without long-term funding, he warns, the new reforms will create “symbolic rights for tenants rather than actual rights.”

The Government has announced £18m in “burdens funding” to support implementation, but council leaders say it falls way short of what is needed to deliver meaningful enforcement at the required level.