Those of you who enjoyed the last Dispatches investigation into the private rental sector will probably be delighted to hear that the award winning team of undercover reporters from Channel 4’s Dispatches programme have decided go back into the property rental market to find out what happens to those who are desperate and homeless.
As you are probably aware, local authorities are supposed to find accommodation for families with nowhere to live, but with the numbers of homeless families far outstripping the numbers of available homes, many councils are turning to the private rented sector to plug the hole.
Tonight’s Dispatches programme promises to lift the lid of the realities of life for those poor unfortunate souls left at the mercy of rogue landlords seeking to line their pockets with taxpayer’s money. We can look forward to some hard-hitting scenes of desperate families with young children forced to live in squalid properties while their unrepentant landlords are raking in the cash. It does indeed sound a sorry tale!
Sadly, although the majority of landlords (including me) offer excellent accommodation and treat their tenants fairly, there are still many who do not and, unfortunately, many local authorities are failing to make adequate checks on the kind of properties they are sending vulnerable people to live in. The housing minister has been promising to sort out the current housing shortage by working with landlords in the private sector, but if tonight’s programme is anything to go by, the government needs to make a few changes to the landlord selection process…
