Unscrupulous landlords are to be driven out of Oxford by the creation of a public register displaying details of approved homes for rent.

An increase in the number of landlords prosecuted by the city council in the past year for renting out unfit properties has led to the urgent creation of the list.

Details of the scheme - which should be operating within months - are released for the first time today and landlords are being urged to sign up.

The idea is prevent tenants living in sub-standard conditions, and to provide people with an at-a-glance guide to renting safe properties and the safeguards landlords have put in place.

Oxford City Council's chief environmental health officer Ian Wright said: "There are approximately 11,000 rented properties and 5,000 homes in multiple occupation and about 1,000 landlords in the city.

"We're making more prosecutions now than we have ever made before and I think the scheme would work very well in Oxford.

"There are some dodgy landlords out there - that's the bottom line - and they need to realise the buck stops with them."

Similar registration schemes are already operating in Southampton, Reading, Darlington and Norwich.

Some Oxford tenants continue to rent properties with faulty smoke alarms, unchecked gas appliances, defective windows and no ventilation.

The council has successfully prosecuted five landlords this year.

The most recent was Mohammed Ali Rana, who runs Chandlers Estate Agents, who was charged with four breaches of housing regulations and failing to comply with a notice served under the Housing Act.

Environmental health officers visited his property in St Mary's Road, East Oxford, last October after complaints from tenants.

They found a faulty smoke alarm, defective windows and a damaged wall.

Rana was given a month to make repairs but failed to comply.

He was subsequently taken to court and fined £12,000 for renting out an unsafe house.

Ed Turner, the council's executive member for housing, said: "There are some landlords that are not living up to their obligations.

"They're not keeping up the maintenance of their properties and tenants are living in sub-standard accommodation that could be potentially life-threatening.

"What we're saying to them is 'if you don't keep up the properties, we will come to get you'.

"The accreditation scheme would give people a reliable list of landlords and properties that they know have had all the necessary checks performed on them.

"If there's a list of reliable landlords you know to be safe, then why would people go with landlords that aren't signed up?"