Landlords who rent out properties privately in a borough in east London could be the first in the country to face mandatory licensing under new proposals.

Newham Council has started a 10-week consultation on proposals to introduce a licensing scheme for all private landlords that would see them and their properties subjected to legal checks. If the scheme is approved by councillors, it will be the first borough in England to license all private landlords.

Landlords in the borough will need to show that they are "fit and proper persons", which could involve a Criminal Record Bureau check. They will also need to demonstrate to the local authority that any gas and electrical installations have a safety certificate, tenants are on written tenancy agreements and anti-social behaviour and repairs are effectively managed.

Newham Council has been piloting a version of the licensing scheme in an area of the borough for the last 18 months. Under the scheme landlords are charged £500 for a licence, or £300 for early applications.

If mandatory licensing across the borough is approved, the scheme in Newham – where two thirds of the Olympics will take place – could be up and running before next year's Games start in July. It would apply to one in three of all the borough's households, protecting an estimated 35,000 private tenancies.

"We want to ensure that private sector rented properties are well managed and meet a good standard. We also want to deal with the crime and anti-social behaviour that is sometimes associated with bad private sector rented housing," Newham mayor, Sir Robin Wales, said.

Since 2005, the number of households renting privately has risen by 1m to 3.4m, according to the latest government statistics.

A national regulatory scheme to protect tenants was proposed by the last government following the Rugg Review, a report into the private rented sector. The government wanted to establish a national register of landlords, regulate letting and managing agent and make written tenancy agreements compulsory.

However, housing minister Grant Shapps rejected the regulations claiming that "the vast majority of England's 3 million private tenants [are] happy with the service they receive".

Speaking in June 2010, Shapps said: "I am satisfied that the current system strikes the right balance between the rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords. So today I make a promise to good landlords across the country: the government has no plans to create any burdensome red tape and bureaucracy, so you are able to continue providing a service to your tenants."

The Guardian recently conducted its own research into problems in the private rented sector by contacting every local authority in England to build a picture of both the scale of the problem with rogue landlords, and what is being done to tackle it.

The results showed that across the country complaints about landlords had reached a staggering 86,628 in the last year. Yet despite the sharp increase, only 270 landlords were successfully prosecuted during that period.

A number of councils around the country have schemes that aim to tackle the issue of problem landlords and unsuitable housing. Manchester, for example, operates a "selective licensing" scheme, similar to Newham's pilot scheme, while Oxford city council has introduced cost-neutral licensing to bring evasive rogue landlords within their reach. In Sheffield, the council works to build a positive relationship with good local landlords so they can prioritise tough action against the worst.

Councils can only introduce their own licensing scheme where there is a problem with anti-social behaviour in the borough or low housing demand, though the two often go hand-in-hand.

National housing charity Shelter is backing the Newham proposals.

"With a chronic shortage of social housing and more and more people being priced out of the housing market, renting is fast becoming the only option for thousands more Londoners," said Kay Boycott, director of communications, policy and campaigns at Shelter. "We urge other local councils to follow Newham's lead in sending a clear signal that enforcing the law against rogue landlords is a priority."

Meanwhile, rental income has increased for the third consecutive quarter, research has revealed.

More than a third of landlords (34%) have increased rent levels across their property portfolio in quarter three, compared to 29% in quarter two, specialist buy-to-let lender, Paragon. said.

Just over 10% of landlords said their rental income had increased by between 2% and 4%, while 13% of landlords increased rents above that level. Only 4% of the landlords surveyed for the report said they had experienced a decrease in their rental income.