At a recent BANES council meeting, Cllr Matt McCabe, cabinet member for Housing said that the transitional funding provided by government would only go so far and the council would need the funds from prosecutions and fines to discharge its duties under the Act.

“Local authorities now have an enforcement function but there is not necessarily any money for that.

“There is some transition money, but in future it will be that we will have to supplement from prosecutions. Which is not a sensible way forward in my view.”

In order to enforce the Renters’ Rights Act, the council is proposing to appoint someone to the role of “Tenancy Relations Officer”.

The spokesman said: “We are allocating limited funding towards the appointment of a Tenancy Relations Officer, whose role will be to support tenants and address breaches of tenancy standards when necessary.”

“In addition, the council is in the process of engaging Bristol City Council’s experienced tenancy team to provide assistance with particularly complex or difficult tenancy matters, especially those that may lead to legal proceedings.”

It seems clear that this new member of staff’s job is to work to produce prosecutions and fines against landlords.  So landlords, watch out!