Councils are set to be given powers to inspect rented homes without providing notice to landlords.
The new powers have been added by the Government to its Renters Rights Bill, which has completed its report stage in the House of Lords and is set to become law in Autumn.
Housing, Communities and Local Government parliamentary under-secretary Baroness Taylor of Stevenage said the move is being taken as ‘local authorities have told us that providing notice can result in unscrupulous landlords hiding evidence of breaches, intimidating tenants, and temporarily fixing issues before reverting to non-compliance’.
She added that tenants will continue to receive 24 hours’ notice of any inspection.
Conservative peer and former Local Government Association chair Lord Jamieson has criticised the plans, saying they are ‘intrusive’ and could lead to ‘legal challenges, confusion and even misuse’ during council investigations into housing issues.
‘If they are to be exercised without prior warning, there must be rigorous justification, robust checks and balances and explicit limits to prevent overreach. That bar has not been met’, he added.
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