Understanding criminality in the private rented sector and co-producing solutions

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Grant details

Economic and Social Research Council; £995,493

Project start and end dates

April 2023 - October 2025

Research team members

Background and aims of the project

In England, a fifth of all households live in the private rented sector. Recent exploratory research in England has identified a 'shadow' private rented sector where activities such as landlord fraud, letting property not designed as residential accommodation, threatening behaviour and violent illegal eviction are commonplace. Tenants at the very bottom end of the rented sector are vulnerable as a consequence of poverty, may well have experiences of street homelessness and/or 'sofa-surfing' that reflect and cause mental health issues, and may have an uncertain migrant status and 'no recourse to public funds' and so are reliant on precarious housing and may be unwilling to engage with statutory authorities. Furthermore, there is evidence that the private rented sector is a site for organised criminal activity including human trafficking, modern slavery and cannabis cultivation. In response to this challenging landscape, the proposed study will:

1) Undertake a systematic examination of criminal landlord behaviour and links to other criminal activity;

2) Work with local authorities and the police across Yorkshire and the Humber to explore effective interventions to disrupt criminal behaviours and effect successful prosecutions;

3) Establish the number of prosecutions for different types of landlord-related crime, examine the obstacles to prosecution;

and consider how decisions are made about sentencing; and

4) Work co-productively with the victims of landlord crime and with third sector organisations to arrive at a better understanding of how this type of crime is experienced and the kinds of support that charitable and statutory authorities should seek to develop.

Methods

  • Qualitative interviews
  • Focus groups
  • Co-production