Greenwich and Bexley councils have been chosen to receive their share of new £4 million government funding to tackle rogue landlords.

The south east London councils will be granted funding to take enforcement action again exploitative landlords, whilst Greenwich has also been chosen to lead a technology-driven pilot scheme.

The Government says it wants to stamp out a small minority of rogue landlords breaking the law and making tenants' lives a misery by offering inadequate or unsafe housing.

But Labour's shadow housing secretary John Healey has slammed the "puny" funding, calling it a "drop in the ocean compared to the cuts that councils have faced since 2010."

More than 100 councils across the UK have been chosen for the wider funding grants for targeted enforcement of the law and to encourage good landlords to thrive.

Greenwich however will be used to trial new technology to identify particularly cold properties and ensure landlords act to fix the problem.

The wireless technology testing temperature and humidity will be placed in properties where tenants have reported problems and will issue an alert when the sensors detect a problem.

Enforcement officers will then use the data to ensure landlords fix the issue, or pursue further enforcement action.

Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said: "It’s completely unacceptable that a minority of unscrupulous landlords continue to break the law and provide homes which fall short of the standards we rightly expect – making lives difficult for hard-working tenants who just want to get on with their lives."

The government minister said that everyone deserves a safe and secure home, and today's funding for Greater London and beyond will "strengthen council's power to crack down on poor landlords" and drive up standards in the private sector.

Labour's Mr Healey countered: "The truth is that the Conservatives have gifted rogue landlords the freedom to flourish, by cutting council budgets, weakening their powers and refusing to legislate to drive up standards."

He called for a new legal charter of rights, longer tenancies, new minimum standards and rent controls to make renting more affordable.

Elsewhere in the country, the funding will see over 100 enforcement officers trained across Yorkshire and Humberside, and a 'Special Operations Unit' to respond to "the very worst landlords" in Northampton.