THE government must urgently introduce long-promised rent reforms, campaigners said today as research revealed landlords in England collected billions of pounds in rent for sub-standard homes in 2020.

A home is considered to be “non-decent” and substandard if it does not meet the basic legal health and safety standards for housing, is not in a reasonable state of repair, does not have reasonably modern facilities and services, or has insulation or heating that is not effective.

Analysis of the 2020 English Housing Survey by the Greater London Authority suggested £8.97 billion had been paid in rent for non-decent housing in England. Around £1.61bn of that came from housing benefit, City Hall said.