A CRACKDOWN on death-trap rented homes is being launched by Oldham Council.

It comes as council bosses bid to tackle “unprecedented demand” for decent properties.

They are planning to intervene in the borough’s housing crisis, vowing to drive up standards and ensure enough homes are available for people to rent.

Town hall chiefs have been consulting on plans to introduce new policies on how private landlords can let properties.

It comes after seven dangerous rented homes were shut down as part of the town hall’s ongoing purge of rogue landlords.

The council says one of its main priorities is to improve property standards and cut the number of “non-decent” homes, which made up almost 40 per cent of all private rentals in Oldham in 2015.

Since the town hall launched its selective licensing policy three years ago, thousands of private landlords have been forced to pay to register their properties and make them legally safe – to avoid being slapped with a £20,000 fine.

Council bosses are now drawing up a new ‘intervention strategy’, which will build on the selective licensing policy and offer more ‘targeted support and advice’ to landlords.

It will also inform the council’s new housing strategy for the next three years.

A council spokesman said: “The primary aim of the intervention will be to improve standards in both the condition and management of private sector housing across the borough and increase housing supply to meet the unprecedented demand in Oldham.”

The consultation asked private sector landlords for their views on how the council could help them to manage their properties more effectively.

It is hoped the measures will help the council cope with ‘unprecedented’ rental demand.

Officers say the number of privately-rented properties in Oldham has grown ‘substantially’, almost doubling from 8,293 in 2010 to 15,185 just five years later, resulting in ‘further saturation’ of the market.

The boom in private renting has fuelled the development of short-term and temporary ‘transient’ communities in Oldham, which could be the cause of poor standards, the council believes.

The results of the consultation, which has now concluded, will be collated and help form the council’s report.