Loophole adds to ‘shameful’ rental conditions in England, says housing chief | Property rental lolita, 06/04/2025 A loophole allowing landlords to rent out squalid homes is contributing to “shameful” conditions of the type seen nearly a century ago, the head of England’s environmental health chiefs has said. Peter Wright called for wholesale reform of how the private rented sector is regulated to address “serious systemic failings” that leave tenants at the mercy of rogue landlords. Colleagues had seen properties in such disrepair – racked with mold, damp and rats – that they “keep officers awake at night”, he said. “There are some living conditions today that are as poor as we would have found in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. It’s shameful to feel that there are still people living in terrible conditions in 2023 in England.” Wright, the chair of the Association of Chief Environmental Health Officers in England, spoke to the Guardian as part of a series shining a light on Britain’s private rental sector. He said landlords had been able to get away with renting out squalid homes because there was no legal minimum standard that private rented properties in England had to meet, unlike in the social housing sector. This means it is not illegal for a landlord to rent out a … Continue Reading