A council is to make another attempt at introducing selective licensing, after a collective of 347 landlords went to the High Court to have an earlier scheme thrown out.
The court ruled that Hyndburn Council had not consulted properly over its introduction of selective licensing back in March 2010. The judge, Mr Justice McCombe, held that both the decision to designate an area for selective licensing and the resulting designation were unlawful.
The Hyndburn Landlords, who were backed in their action by the Residential Landlords Association, had 1,326 properties between them which were affected by the scheme.
Now Hyndburn Council, which covers Accrington in Lancashire, has redrafted its controversial plans.
Deputy leader Clare Pritchard said a smaller scheme now has the backing of landlords who have been consulted in advance. She said: “We have really listened to landlords who are now part of a forum we consult with. The scheme as a whole is smaller, rather than covering entire wards, which was the main concern of landlords.”
However, Hyndburn Landlords say they would still prefer to see changes.
The plans will now be subject to a period of public consultation before a decision in the summer.
Council leader Miles Parkinson said: “The sooner we can have this implemented the better as it protects tenants and will provide a better quality of housing in the borough. I think the progress that has been made is promising.”
However, Hyndburn MP Graham Jones said: “I think it’s sad this scheme was ever watered down because I think it benefits good landlords too. I hope this scheme is eventually rolled out across the whole of Hyndburn because rogue landlords can appear anywhere.”
Paul Brown of Hyndburn Landlords said: “Hyndburn Council has only five members of staff who would oversee the issuing of 1,800 licences as it stands. We would rather they split this goal into two phases to make it realistically manageable.
“As it stands, we feel they will have no time to pursue bad landlords, and will only regulate the good landlords who put themselves forward.”
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Comments
The problem with all licencing schemes is that already responsible landlords who voluntarily comply are made to jump through ever more restrictive bureaucratic hoops while the rogue landlords at whom legislation should be targeted keep a low profile and avoid the gaze of the regulating authority. If they are exposed they are deliberately obstructive to the point where frustrated council officers, ever more desparate to be seen doing some sort of job, fall back on pestering good landlords (who, by definition, are already very busy) over an un-dotted 'i' or an uncrossed 't' in their mountain of largely useless paperwork.
What is required is a system of local officers to whom tenants can complain about poor conditions and who have the power of direct intervention. Unfortunately this requires a certain amount of subjective appraisal and individual discretion by individual officers which seems to have fallen out of favour with authorities in recent years.
John B.
Quite. Outlaws, by definition are not amenable to judicial process. Result: more burdensome regs. for the legit with financial penalties for non compliance. The law abiding are being miked dry by government in every sphere of activity from driving to refuse disposal and I for one am seeing increasing upside in 'Rogue' status when it comes to letting property.