A landlord licensing scheme to tackle poorly managed rental properties has been rejected by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Redbridge council said it was extremely disappointed at the Secretary of State’s decision not to approve the borough-wide scheme.

Since April this year, legislation requires councils to obtain government permission for licenses affecting more than 20 per cent of private housing.

A consultation by the local authority found "overwhelming support" from tenants and residents for the scheme.

The council said evidence provided to Greg Clark MP, the Secretary of State, showed a significant amount of anti-social behaviour was associated with privately rented properties.

It was hoped a borough-wide scheme would give the council the tools to help ensure that landlords of private rented properties take responsibility for standard and safety of their property and deal with any problems caused by their tenants.

In his response to the council's application, Mr Clark said there was not a case for a borough-wide scheme.

However he did find that there are some wards in the borough where the link between anti-social behaviour and privately rented properties had been demonstrated.

Redbridge council is now considering whether to attempt to implement a smaller licensing scheme drawing on this response.

Councillor Athwal, leader of Redbridge's Labour council, said: “We are extremely disappointed, that despite evidence provided, our application has been turned down to allow us to implement a borough-wide scheme for private property licensing.

“We strongly believe that a borough-wide scheme is vital to hold landlords to account for the actions of their tenants including noise, rubbish and vandalism and other anti-social behaviour related to some private rented properties.

“Without a borough-wide scheme it will be impossible for us to readily identify who is responsible for a property and deal proactively with poor standards of rented accommodation.

"Sadly, we will now have to go back to the drawing board and consider our options.”