Landlords in Milton Keynes are celebrating after the city council admitted it was abandoning plans to introduce a proposed city-wide licensing scheme.
The council is also cutting the cost of the licensing fee on all HMOs by £500, reducing it from £800 to £300.
Milton Keynes was just one of a spate of councils which recently announced plans to levy costly licenses on local landlords, despite opposition from landlords and trade bodies.
Milton Keynes councillors took a similar line to that expressed by other local authorities which claimed that anti-social behaviour was linked to the private rented sector, with landlords allegedly doing too little to curb tenants’ behaviour and, as a result, facing fines of up to £20,000.
Landlords in Milton Keynes had been told a new license may cost as much as £900 but joined forces with the National Landlords’ Association (NLA) to fight against the measure.
"Selective licensing is a powerful tool at the disposal of local authorities but it should only be used when appropriate. The clear message from Milton Keynes is that they intend to take a more proactive stance and focus on the existing powers they have available to combat poor standards” says NLA chief executive Richard Lambert.
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