Richmond Council has said the changes to housing legislation recently proposed by the Government do not go far enough.

On December 28, Housing and Planning Minister Alok Sharma announced a crackdown on rogue landlords, setting out new measures to “stamp out overcrowding and improve standards” for those renting in the private sector.

Mandatory licensing is proposed for HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) occupied by five people or more in two or more houses, regardless of the number of storeys.

Minimum room sizes will be introduced, and local authorities will be required to cap the number of occupants per room depending on the size of the space.

Rooms used for sleeping by one adult will have to be no smaller than 6.51 square metres, and those slept in by two adults will have to be no smaller than 10.22 square metres.

Rooms slept in by children of 10 years and younger will have to be no smaller than 4.64 square metres.

The move, which will affect about 160,000 houses, has partly been welcomed by Richmond Council, who wrote to the housing minister in December demanding the Government “address the growing problem” of HMOs.

However, Councillor Pamela Fleming, deputy leader and cabinet member for environment, business and community said that although the proposed changes were “encouraging”, they do “not address the problems for HMOs occupied by fewer than five people”.

She added: “We hope this is the start of a process which will see changes from the Government and will be watching closely for further steps to bring all HMOs under control and improve the quality of housing.”

Along with mandatory licencing, from April next year, someone convicted of offences such as burglary and stalking can be added to the database of rogue landlords and be barred from renting properties.

Local authorities will have the power to give banning orders to landlords with criminal records, and can search the new rogue landlord database, but the Government will not introduce legislation to mandate criminal record certificates.

Alok Sharma said: “Every tenant has a right to a safe, secure and decent home. But some are being exploited by unscrupulous landlords who profit from providing overcrowded, squalid and sometimes dangerous homes.

“Enough is enough and so I'm putting these rogue landlords on notice - shape up or ship out of the rental business.

“Through a raft of new powers we are giving councils the further tools they need to crack down on these rogue landlords and kick them out of the business for good.”

To read the proposals go here.