Tenants group urges Shelter to reprieve its bedsit campaign

Homelessness could increase after the closure of a campaign to support private tenants, activists have warned.

The Campaign for Bedsit Rights, run by charity Shelter, ended last month following the implementation of the 2004 Housing Act, which met the campaign’s main aim of licensing private landlords.

However, a leading member of a London tenants’ group said the campaign had been wound down just when it was needed most.

Jackie Peacock, chair of Brent Private Tenants’ Rights Group, said: “If we don’t get this [implementation of the act] right, there will be a massive increase in homelessness.

“The act contains the details that enable councils to make a real impact in the private rented sector, but only if they use it properly.

“The bedsit briefing that the campaign circulated regularly was a practical, useful document that many of the better local authorities placed quite a lot of reliance on.

“Although it is quite true that the act was one of the campaign’s major issues, now we have got it on the statute books it means it is where the campaign starts – not where it ends.”

If we don’t get the 2004 act right, there will be a massive increase in homelessness

Jackie Peacock, Brent Private Tenants’ Rights

Peacock argued that good work could be lost without guidance – and heavy-handed approaches from councils could cause private landlords to leave the sector, increasing housing problems.

The Brent tenants’ group this week launched its own Better Renting programme, which will provide landlords and tenants with a tenancy agreement compliant with the legislation and a landlords’ advice line offering information, advice and support.

There are currently 1.5 million private tenants living in shared houses, flats, bedsits, bed-and-breakfasts, hostels and shared flats in England and Wales.

A Shelter spokeswoman said the charity was planning a new campaign to make sure the Housing Act 2004 was “fully and

effectively implemented”. She said: “While we have no plans to produce further editions of the bedsit briefing, improving the living conditions of people in the private rented sector remains a key priority. We are therefore looking at how we can deliver the same kind of service in a more effective way.”