One in five households now lives in private rented accommodation, with renting becoming a long-term prospect for many people.
Increasingly, this includes families with children.
The vast majority of tenants are satisfied with the quality of their homes.
But a significant minority of private rented accommodation is shockingly inadequate
There are 800,000 private rented homes in England with at least one Category One hazard, such as such as excess cold or exposed wiring, according to The English Housing Survey.
Over a quarter of private rented homes failed to meet the Government's Decent Homes Standard in 2016.
Most councils did not prosecute a single landlord in 2016
The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, 11 MPs from different political parties, held an inquiry into the private rented sector.
The focus was on the powers local authorities have to address low standards in parts of the sector.
They have come to three key conclusions.
1. Tenants need greater protection from retaliatory eviction
When tenants complain, they can risk retaliation from their landlords.
44% of tenants said a fear of eviction would stop them from negotiating with their landlord over disrepair. Research into consumer perceptions found that 14% of tenants felt they had been penalised for complaining.
Tenants need greater protection from retaliatory eviction, rent increases and harassment so they are fully empowered to pursue complaints.
2. Local Authorities need to enforce the law
Enforcement levels are far too low in the vast majority of local authorities.
Many councils told us they didn't have sufficient resources to enforce standards in the sector. There is also often a financial disincentive to pursue prosecutions against criminal landlords, as the costs of investigations were rarely recovered through the courts.
However, a lack of resources does not fully explain the variation in enforcement levels between different local authorities. The disparity can only be resolved through local political leadership.
Most tenants experienced at least one problem with conditions or repair in the last year
"Twenty-five people in a three-bedroom house is not unusual. We had a guy in a raid who was sleeping under the stairs.
There were two people living in a walk-in freezer.
There was a family living in a place that has been built with chipboard and they have a fridge and a washing machine... powered from the kitchen, because they are living in the garden."
3. Local Authorities need to be able to break the business models of criminal landlords
More robust penalties are needed to deal with the worst, criminal landlords.
Current civil penalties, capped at £30,000, are not strong enough to deter landlords who are prepared to commit the most serious offences.
Landlords should face fines that are sufficient to take their houses away, rather than be absorbed into their finance models as a cost of business.
The Committee have published a report on this issue.
Join the call for the Government to take action.
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