If the data project is clearly desk-based, it is equally obvious that to find out if there are people renting a rogue landlord’s property, you have to get out. Council press officers love trotting out the soundbite about how they have “a zero tolerance of rogue landlords”, but then plenty refuse to assist newspapers looking to highlight the issue and what appear to be their triumphs. So for all the cross-party support to crack down on rogue landlords, this project has left many involved with the feeling that the deck is stacked against tenants ever being consistently and properly heard - or the law being effectively enforced. All of which gives the appearance of a system that can benefit the country’s rogue landlords. Well, rogue landlords and the nation’s cobblers.

Source: The Guardian December 08, 2018 09:00 UTC