The Housing Minister Kris Hopkins has just released a downloadable "How to rent " guide for tenants who are privately renting their homes.

This is seen by the government as another action to weed out the very small number of "rogue" landlords and to change their ways. The guide is launched to help tenants to become educated in their rental rights and aware of landlords and letting agents obligations.

Mr Hopkins said: "That encouraging a new generation of well-informed tenants with easy access to useful and understandable information would help root out the small minority of rogues and raise the game of any landlords who don’t know what is expected of them."

The launch coincides with the government confirming their intentions that all letting agents, from now on, will have to make prospective tenants aware of their full set of charges and fees, both on their websites and within their offices. Any letting agent not following this directive will be fined with a higher penalty that exists at present.

The government's strategy is determined to bring openness and "fairness" into the private rented marketplace. They are hoping that the guide, one of the measures currently being introduced, will make sure that the 9 million people in England that are privately renting their homes, will know how to tackle "rogue" landlords without overloading the sector with excessive legislation which could cause rents to rise.

The government has also given magistrates' courts the right to levy unlimited fines upon those landlords found guilty of not fulfilling their obligations to tenants. This includes, such as failing to carry out essential improvement works to a property or continuing to rent out a property which the council has ruled is not fit for living in.

The  guide contains information for tenants when they are considering new homes to rent and can be accessed from tablets, pcs and Smartphone's and covers such information as, advice and information on tenancy deposit schemes, bill payments and tenancy length. Checklist on what landlords must provide tenants i.e. deposit paperwork and gas certificates. Exact requirements of landlords to ensure the property's structure will be maintained, and how long a period of notice the landlord must give, before entering the property.

Housing Minister Kris Hopkins said: "This government is turning up the heat on the small minority of rogue landlords that are not playing by the rules and giving tenants a rough deal.

"The new ‘How to rent’ guide will give tenants the knowledge they need at their fingertips and help raise the game of landlords who may not know what is expected of them.

"We are doing all of this without the need for excessive state regulation that would destroy investment in new housing, push up prices and make it far harder for people to find a flat or house to rent.

"The private rental sector is vital asset to the country and this government is determined to get Britain building and boost investment in the sector.

"The new £1 billion Build to Rent fund helps developers build homes specifically for the private rented sector, and is on track to have work underway on up to 10,000 new homes by 2015.

"In addition to this the government ‘s housing guarantee scheme is supporting up to £10 billion worth of investment finance in large-scale private rented projects and additional affordable housing."