Just one council in North Wales has prosecuted HMO landlords over the past three years for failing to maintain their properties properly, according to Freedom of Information figures obtained by local paper the Daily Post.

Conwy County Council brought three cases before the courts between January 2012 and January this year. No prosecutions at all were brought by authorities in Gwynedd, Denbighshire or Anglesey.

Wrexham Council said they “don’t hold information in relation to prosecutions”, while Flintshire County Council had not responded to the paper.

A spokesman for Shelter said: “This is a very low number of prosecutions and doesn’t really reflect Shelter Cymru’s experience of the level of problems in the HMO sector.

“It’s likely to be more of a reflection of the financial pressures on local authorities and their environmental health departments, which mean that they are not in a position to pursue cases as often as they would like.

“We hope that the new Housing Act and the Renting Homes Bill will make it much more straightforward for irresponsible landlords to be identified and appropriately dealt with.”

The Housing (Wales) Act 2014 makes it a requirement for all letting agents and landlords to be licensed and to pass a fit and proper contract. This part of the Act is not yet in force but is expected to be implemented in the autumn. While this is likely to be October 1, this date is subject to change.

Under the Act, landlords in Wales who are not licensed will have to use a licensed letting agent.