Derbyshire councils to tackle poor quality private rented homes

The funding comes from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, which approached Derbyshire Dales District Council in September this year in its bid to support areas of greatest need.

Derbyshire Dales then reached out to neighbouring councils to deliver the project on a bigger scale - and both Amber Valley Borough Council and Erewash Borough Council came on board.

Tim Braund, Derbyshire Dales' Director of Regulatory Services, said: "While there is still considerable detail to be worked out, this is an exciting partnership project. To make a significant impact on the private rented sector across the three authority areas we think it's reasonable to aim to inspect around 500 properties per authority per 12 month period of the study.

"The funding will pay mainly for project management, staffing and associated costs, with Derbyshire Dales - which has a relatively high proportion of older properties in the private rented sector - being the lead authority."

A key area of the joint study will be to build an understanding of what is needed to bring private rented properties up to the proposed Decent Homes Standard, and how landlords respond to enforcement.

Amber Valley's Head of Housing and Growth, David Arkle, said: "It's important to stress that the vast majority of private landlords provide a great service; it's only a small minority that let down the sector.”