Councillors want to make landlords responsible for making sure tenants keep the noise down, keep rubbish tidy and generally do not upset neighbours.
If they do not control their rental properties, the council will order landlords to stop collecting rents.
The proposal was put before MPs considering the new Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Bill at Westminster.
The Local Government Association (LGA), which speaks for 370 councils in England and Wales, argued to include the power in the bill.
Councils in Scotland already have similar powers.
A national register of landlords is maintained in Scotland. If councils receive complaints about buy to let or shared homes, they can issue a notice to the landlord.
The notice demands the landlord should take specific action – and if the landlord fails to act, the council can issue a rent ban.
Mehboob Khan, chairman of the LGA’s safer and stronger communities board, said MPs should take up the challenge and include the power in the bill.
“The problem of anti-social behaviour by tenants in private housing is considerable and councils have few powers to step in,” he said.
“The majority of private landlords are responsible and considerate but plenty care little about the behaviour of their tenants as long as they pay their rent each week.
“Hitting those that ignore warnings by stopping them from collecting rent would certainly make them sit up and take notice of the damaging effect that anti-social behaviour can inflict on neighbours and the community as a whole.”
The move is seen as yet another attempt to shift public responsibility to landlords.
The government already wants landlords to police a tenant’s right to live in the UK by referencing immigrants.
Landlords can seek possession of a property if a tenant breaches the tenancy agreement with anti-social behaviour, but courts have to take into account the tenant’s human rights when considering eviction.
That includes weighing if failing to tidy rubbish or to tone down noise is worth making someone homeless.
