Tenants made almost 90,000 complaints about private rented property last year, according to research by homeless charity Shelter.
Pleas for help included life-threatening living conditions like dangerous gas and electricity supplies.
Councils across England and Wales were asked about the level of complaints against buy to let landlords - and how they responded.
Shelter says the councils have identified around 1,500 rogue landlords who poorly treat their tenants - but prosecutions in the courts show only 270 have faced legal action.
Now, Shelter wants councils to crack down on these landlords to safeguard tenants from poor standards and profiteering.
Councils allege the number of bad landlords is increasing, along with levels of complaints that are up 25 per cent in two years.
As part of the campaign to improve standards, Shelter has started a ‘rogue landlord watch’ web site that names and shames landlords who have faced successful prosecution in the courts.
[LINK: http://england.shelter.org.uk/campaigns/evictroguelandlords]
The charity claims the buy to let market is blighted by amateur landlords failing to offer proper living standards to tenants and that a small number of landlords prey on the vulnerable.
Nevertheless, England and Wales has 3.4 million buy to let homes and the level of complaints represents around two per cent of the number of homes, while the number of prosecutions barely registers as a statistic.
Shelter’s chief executive Campbell Robb said: “The reality is that rogue landlords are out there and they’re getting away with it.
“Every day at Shelter we see the devastating impact rogue landlords have on peoples’ lives as they remain trapped in homes that cause misery and, in some cases, put lives at risk.
“What’s more, we believe there could be thousands more tenants who are suffering in silence, holding back from complaining out of fear of the consequences or because they don’t feel their voices will be heard.”
Robb also highlights council failings in protecting tenants.
“Local authorities have the powers to tackle rogue landlords but too many aren’t making the most of their armoury. They must follow the lead of those councils taking a zero tolerance approach to rogue landlords, and support tenants who are suffering by cracking down on the worst offenders in their area.”
