A London local authority is to extend its current additional licensing scheme from 12 council wards to 18 – and is putting a second licensing regime on two specific wards.

As well as the system soon to be operating on the 18 wards of Havering council, two will have a selective licensing scheme applying only to single-family properties.

A consultation was held in September last year to get views on the extension and selective licensing. It will come into force on 25 January 2021 and will operate for five years.

The council says the landlord licensing scheme will “help private rented properties offer residents a choice of safe, quality and well-managed accommodation” as well as reducing anti-social behaviour and increase enforcement action on landlords that operate below-standard and unlicensed properties

Since the current scheme across 12 wards was introduced in March 2018, Havering has issued some £417,500 worth of fixed penalty notices to landlords and has issued 314 HMO licences.

A council spokesman says: “After a consultation last year, there was support to extend this scheme. It means we can further look to help increase protection to tenants, support landlords and further support our aim of tackling poor management, overcrowding and anti-social behaviour.”