CIEH comments on Labour’s commitment to extend ‘Awaab’s Law’

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) has commented on Labour’s commitment to extend ‘Awaab’s Law’ to the private rented sector.

The Government is currently consulting on ‘Awaab’s law’, which would enable tenants in the social rented sector to hold landlords to account for poor housing conditions by taking legal action through the courts.

CIEH has welcomed the interest of the political parties in tackling poor housing conditions but stressed that new laws alone will not solve the problem.

Louise Hosking, Executive Director of Environmental Health at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, said:

“We want to see more awareness and better resourcing of the crucial role played by environmental health professionals in tackling poor housing conditions in all types of tenure and thereby reducing ill health and saving lives.

Local authorities are severely under-resourced. There is a need for sustained and predictable funding for the enforcement of housing standards – and a lot more of it.

Poor housing imposes substantial costs on the health and care system, including costs associated with its impact on mental health.

The regulatory framework around poor housing is already very complex and it can be hard for tenants themselves to use legal remedies. We would therefore like to see a greater focus on enabling local authorities to enforce existing legislation and will look forward to working with all the political parties on this issue.”