JUST ONE of over 1,000 complaints made to the South Worcestershire councils about a landlord led to a prosecution in the last five years.

Data from Worcester City Council and Wychavon and Malvern Hills District Councils showed that none of the three councils had prosecuted a landlord since 2020.

An investigation from Public Interest Lawyers found that 115 of the 252 councils in the UK had not prosecuted any landlords in the last five years.

The last time the county saw a landlord be taken to court by a local authority was when Worcester City Council launched a 2019/20 prosecution for failing to licence an HMO, where the landlord received a fine.

Tom Darling, director of the Renters' Reform Coalition, said: "These are worrying findings.

"The key problem councils face here is ultimately a lack of resources after years of rising costs and shrinking budgets."

Of the three councils, Wychavon received the most complaints with 558, followed by Worcester with 339 and Malvern Hills with 298.

Beverley Faulkner, housing disrepair specialist at JF Law, said: "All renters deserve to feel safe and secure in the property they pay to live in. 

"Unfortunately, that does not always happen.

"The local authority being unable or unwilling to take action against a landlord could leave a renter feeling like justice has not been done."

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Jennifer Taylor, director of communities and housing for Malvern Hills and Wychavon District Councils, said: "To imply the lack of prosecutions indicates we don't take issues relating to the conduct of landlords seriously shows a lack of understanding of the work we do.

"Our team can resolve most issues successfully by informally working with landlords in the first instance and that is our focus and, where that fails, we have other tools available to us including formal warnings and civil penalties which can be as effective as court action.

"Only a small number of complaints will meet the threshold where there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of a prosecution being successful.

"Anyone privately renting with concerns about their property or the actions of their landlord should report them to us at Privatesectorhousing@wychavon.gov.uk and we will investigate."

Worcester City Council was also contacted for a response.