A CRACKDOWN on the poor standard of thousands of rented homes across Worcester is being launched by council chiefs.

Three months after we revealed how up to 14,000 private properties are believed to be in a poor condition, Worcester City Council has finalised a new blueprint for tackling it.

After a public consultation the city's Private Sector Housing Strategy is now complete, a dossier which lasts until 2020.

The 22-page guide aims to keep regular tabs on landlords who rent out houses, cajole them into making sure proper investments are made into maintenance costs and be more proactive in offering support to tenants.

It also reveals how talks are taking place with the fire service and Worcestershire Regulatory Services over establishing a list of so-called "problem properties" which are unsafe.

An online reporting facility to name and shame poor landlords to the council and review of the council's current eviction procedures are also planned.

The strategy is on the back of a new 'licensing scheme' compelling around 2,000 owners of some rented homes to pay a fee of more than £600 to fund waves of inspections.

The city council's cabinet has given the new plan its backing, saying they hope it makes an impact.

Conservative Councillor Simon Geraghty, the leader, said: "We're really hoping to see the impact in terms of improving the city's housing stock, we want to see results."

Councillor Joy Squires, deputy leader of the opposition Labour group, said: "From the point of view of many of us, generally improving the private housing stock and using as many tools as possible to make that happen is what we want to see.

"In my patch I've got a number of empty properties which nobody seems to be able to do anything about, I suspect we've all got the same."

In June we revealed how around 14,000 private homes in Worcester are estimated to be failing to meet decent standards, a 58 per cent increase in just over a decade.

Some are owner-occupied, but others are rented out and there are fears tenants in sub-standard accommodation are getting a raw deal.

The city council asked outside consultants to survey the standard of private properties and samples revealed an estimated 3,556 people classed as vulnerable were believed to be stuck in sub-standard homes.

Being excessively cold due to a lack of heating, dodgy access or poor energy efficiency were the main reasons for it.

The research showed the national decent homes standard, as set by the Government, is only met by 68 per cent of private Worcester homes, 11 per cent down on 2004 and six per cent below the rest of the UK.

* To see what we said on this in June, go HERE.

* Want to see the council's final strategy yourself? A PDF of it can be read HERE.