A legal firm has slated a report stating that councils in England and Wales have failed to properly sanction rogue landlords.

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The controversial report released by the firm and widely covered in the media, claimed that there have been nearly half a million complaints about landlord misconduct over the past five years, yet councils have only prosecuted fewer than 1,300 landlords.

However, an expert has now labelled the report as misleading and inaccurate.

A spokesman for another legal firm says: “This report is so far off the mark as to be risible.

“It seems that the authors don’t understand the Housing Act 2004, as amended by the Housing and Planning Act 2016.”

He argues that the report overlooks the considerable application of Civil Financial Penalties, an enforcement mechanism enabling councils to levy fines of up to £30,000 for each violation.

He comments: “Councils often opt for Civil Financial Penalties over court prosecutions because they can retain the revenue generated from these fines. In fact, the majority of housing enforcements now use this mechanism.

“This practice has led to a significant increase in enforcement actions against landlords, though this fact is completely overlooked in the report.

“Thousands of landlords are fined every week, yet the report suggests that councils are doing almost nothing.

“It’s clear that the authors of this report have a skewed view of the situation.