London councils failing private tenants and landlords | Housing network | Guardian Professional

London councils failing private tenants and landlords | Housing network | Guardian Professional

Last week, tenancy officer Ben Reeve-Lewis reminded us that problems in the private rented sector (PRS) are more likely to be caused by "reluctant landlords" – people who find they can't sell their home and so rent it out instead.

I have said for some time that councils and the lenders of buy-to-let mortgages should be doing a lot more to help spread knowledge. In September, Letting Focus surveyed the quality and quantity of information that 12 London local authorities made available to tenants and landlords in the private rented sector. The results were shocking.

We found an almost complete lack of information on important issues such as letting agency fees charged to tenants and how to avoid becoming a victim of fraud at the hands of fake letting agents. Even advice for landlords on safely letting large shared houses is sometimes missing – particularly worrying because these houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) run a high fire risk.