Barking MP Dame Margaret Hodge has backed a Bill spearheaded by a Labour colleague which offers more protection for private tenants.

Barking and Dagenham Post: Karen Buck is the Labour MP for Westminster North.Karen Buck is the Labour MP for Westminster North. (Image: Archant)

The bill which is being introduced by Karen Buck, MP for Westminster North, would give renters a new legal right to ensure their home is ‘fit for human habitation’.

Dame Margaret told the Post she is regularly contacted by desperate tenants in the borough who are forced to live in rat infested, mouldy over-crowded properties.

The new legislation would affect an estimated one million rented properties containing the most serious ‘category 1’ hazards, including homes that have unsafe electrics, vermin infestations, or aren’t fire safe.

The new Bill will give tenants the powers to enforce their right to a decent home by taking their landlord to court.

Dame Margaret Hodge added: “Many residents tell me they are too afraid to ask their landlord to improve their living conditions because they fear their rent might increase or they might be evicted.

“This is simply not acceptable.

“People have a right to live in homes which are fit to live in and landlords have a duty to ensure properties are up to a proper standard.”