London borough slammed as landlord complaints sky rocket

Ealing has seen the largest number of complaints by tenants against their landlord in London according to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by campaigning group Public Interest Lawyers.

The FOI request was sent to every council in England and Wales with 252 councils responding.

The results show that between 2019 and 2024, Ealing received 7,764 complaints but made just three prosecutions, all of which occurred in 2020/21. Last year there were 2,273 complaints. The number of fines and rent repayment orders against landlords were not included, though.

Nearby Brent recorded 1,015 complaints and 31 prosecutions last year, while Hounslow had 3,597 complaints and 16 prosecutions.

High complaint levels

There were also high levels of complaints in  Redbridge (1,995), Croydon (1,409)  and Waltham Forest (1,102).

An Ealing Council spokesperson told EALING.NEWS: “Ealing Council receives a large number of complaints about landlords on a variety of topics, which are recorded and investigated.

We always endeavour to work with landlords or their agents to resolve any problems without the need for enforcement.”

“We always endeavour to work with landlords or their agents to resolve any problems without the need for enforcement. If that does not work, we take a graduated approach to enforcement.

“Wherever possible, landlords are notified of problems and required to rectify them. In many cases, the prospect of an inspection results in action by the landlord or agent and the matter is resolved, avoiding the need for any prosecution.

“If the matters are serious, we may issue the landlord with an improvement notice. It is an offence to not comply with an improvement notice. In nearly all cases we find that once landlords and agents are required to take action they do so.

And, the spokesperson warned: “We take strong action against landlords who do not respond adequately to improvement notices.”

*Picture courtesy of Ealing Council.