PLANS to stamp out rogue landlords in Worcester have been put on hold.

Worcester City Council’s cabinet met on Tuesday to discuss plans to license all private rented homes in the city in an effort to improve conditions for tenants and neighbours.

About 18 per cent of the 42,470 homes in Worcester are privately rented, and the powers under the Housing Act 2004 would mean all landlords in the city would be required to register with the council, making it easier to trace them if problems arose concerning the condition of the buildings or anti-social behaviour involving their residents.

However, members decided they did not have enough information available on the city’s private housing stock and agreed to put the plans on hold for about a year while a survey is carried out.

Councillor Joy Squires, who initially proposed the idea, said she no longer believed it was the way forward. “I don’t want to bring in a system that penalises all the landlords in Worcester, but certainly I do hope we can bring something to stop those who are not meeting requirements,” she said.

Coun Squires, who is also Labour’s parliamentary candidate for the next general election, said she had met with a number of landlords in the city, all of whom were in favour of cracking down on those who are not acting responsibly.

Coun Richard Boorn said he firmly believed the council had to do something to hold irresponsible landlords to account.

“In my ward there are some issues where people are living in houses they own next to those owned by private landlords and they have put up with anti-social behaviour and the poor appearance of the buildings,” he said “As a council we have to do something.”

Coun Roger Berry said he believed a common problem was that houses rented by University of Worcester students were not well maintained and the institution itself does not take action when problems are reported.

However, a spokesman from the university’s accommodation department said it provides as much support as possible to these students and encourages them to only rent homes accredited by the council.

Council officers will now start work on a housing stock survey and the way forward will be discussed once this is complete in about a year.