Virtual forum happening today for landlords to discuss licensing

If this scheme was operating in order to address homelessness with funds raised I would (as a local landlord in Charnwood) fully support the initiative. However, it seems that it could be yet another way of raising money for more useless time-wasting bureaucracy! I have lived in this area for 36 years and been a landlord for over 20. The number of irresponsible landlords locally are very few and are well known to the authorities already. This scheme will deter new, younger people from buying- to- let in Charnwood and create even more homelessness than exists at present.

"The number of irresponsible landlords locally are very few and are well known to the authorities already."

I suspect these schemes tax responsible landlords in order to fund the council in dealing with the small minority of rogue landlords.

Rotherham Council started a 5 year scheme in 2015 which ended this year. So you would expect that all licensed properties had been brought up to a satisfactory standard during the 5 year period. Job done! Apparently not!

RMBC have now decided to begin a new 5 year scheme for the same properties! I imagine their reasoning would be so the property standards are maintained. Again the vast majority of landlords will keep their properties in good order without needing to pay £600 for the council to watch over them.

During the 2015-2020 scheme it cost me £600 to receive the recommendation that I should change my perfectly good smoke alarms to wifi connected ones.

• Retired Agent one
• 05 October 2020 09:59 AM

And those without the obligatory smart arse phones? Stupid council official trying to justify their existence. I trust you told them where the sun does not shine would be a good place to put the idea.

• Login to like comment
• 6
• Login to Report

 

• Peter Yednell
• 18 July 2021 14:23 PM

Rogue landlords are overwhelmingly concentrated at the HB/UC end of the market. The abolishment of the paying of housing assistance based on quality but instead basing the payments on property size has encouraged slum Landlords who thereby make more profit that decent landlords who maintain their properties. Introducing licensing for all landlords needlessly increases rents. There are alternatives to universal licensing but using a sledge hammer to crack a nut is easier 'jobs for the boys' & income.

• Login to like comment
• 1
• Login to Report

 

Those Schemes now existing in other Boroughs have done enormous damage apart from all the unnecessary costs which for the most parts are Councils / Government bureaucracy. I see 3 main issues straight away caused by regulations / Licensing that didn't exist before and caused by their interference directly and I can vouch for that. SUBLETTING, OVERCROWDING & ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR, those 3 issues virtually didn't exist before they caused them.
Landlord control taken away & given to the Tenant + excluding the LL from the Property.
Landlord restricted by HMO license as to the number of occupants who can reside at the Property.
Then they said Tenants are allowed to have guests ? the Tenant then has all this extra empty space created to sub-let + over loading the existing rooms and causing over crowding.
The over crowding is the biggest cause of Anti-Social behavior, and that's just for starters, but we must be fit & proper persons, now I have to go & do some actual work before I get sick on the key board..

• Robert Brown
• 05 October 2020 16:13 PM

Totally agree. When I was a student around 50 years ago, it was quite common for at least 8 to share a 4 bed flat - sometimes more in older flats with huge rooms.

Now Glasgow City Council limits occupancy to 4 unrelated adults in a flat built to accommodate at least twice that number and charges nearly £2000 initially for a 3 year HMO licence with over £900 payable every 3 years on renewal. That's on top of around £3000 for new fire doors, mains operated interlinked smoke alarms, emergency lighting etc.

No wonder rents are still on the increase and the housing shortage isn't getting any better.

If students were willing to share bedrooms with flatmates (and not just casual strangers) then individual rents could be halved and lots of student flats available for housing families.

• Login to like comment
• 3
• Login to Report

 

I should imagine that students nowadays want to have their own space.
What if, in sharing a room, their room-mate invited someone back who stole goods from the other roomie or even had an intimate relationship with one sharer and the other sharer had to sleep in same room. Not all students are laissez-faire in their attitude.
You must have the right to your own space as you do in later years, not crammed in with people whose values and style of living is your polar opposite, student or not.
I'm glad my children went straight from school into jobs and were buying their own properties at 18.

Grace, what right and are you going to pay for it ? A lot of degrees are worthless.

• Andrew townshend
• 18 July 2021 17:05 PM

Seems to me most degrees are worthless these days, I've told the story before of my friends daughter, a first in law and couldn't get a job anywhere, leave school go straight out into the work place and own your own property before these uni students have done a days work, as it used to be and as it should be again.

• Login to like comment
• 4
• Login to Report

 

• Grace Ryan
• 19 July 2021 08:09 AM

Edwin, I totally agree with you re degrees. Many students don't even follow the career path for which the particular degree was studied. It's a piece of paper to say you studied for maybe 1/4 of the degree course and partied or demonstrated for the other 3/4.
There are exceptions but not many.
I do think that everyone should have some space to call their own. There is little that is private nowadays, it's all on social media but there are a lot of under 25s who are taking their own lives as the demands of social media and pressure groups give no room to hide.
Having to share a room with someone you don't know and who may bully you or use your stuff without asking, may be a bridge too far for a quieter more studious student who actually wants to knuckle down to serious study.

• Login to like comment
• 1
• Login to Report

 

But Peter, they didn’t introduce Licensing Schemes for all LL‘s, it doesn’t apply in the main for the bulk of LL’s supplying housing for HB / UC which is so unfair no license required I seen what they required one LL to do, one fire door in kitchen, one fire alarm and change lock on front door so that it can be
opened from inside without a key that was it to house non contributing Tenants, part of the £8.6b false Claimants, that’s the figure by DWP so if they know about that much, what’s the real figure of the untouchables millions the hot bed of support for Mr Khan & Brent.

Andrew I was not reporting a comment, don’t know what went on there I was giving you a clap.

Yes they had 10 years extra education more than Primary to do what, make rules and laws to avoid working for rest of their lives, working from home is a good example they think it’s work but in reality they are dealing with some administration they invented with Computer.
The internet is the worst thing to happen in my lifetime costing trillions of £’s, taking over everyone’s life, they are on it 24/7 taking away jobs, bankrupting businesses, destroying social life and marriages etc the list is endless.