Barnet council in London is pushing ahead with plans to reintroduce an HMO licensing scheme next month, following a 15-month hiatus. 

Additional licensing’ which requires HMOs across the borough to be licensed, was previously introduced in Barnet in 2016 and expired in July 2021. Following a review of the previous scheme and undertaking a public consultation a new scheme will run for a further five years, to begin on Thursday October 27 – about eight weeks from now.

The process, which follows a three-month public consultation last year, has been backed by Councillor Ross Houston, chair of the authority’s housing and growth committee, who says: “It is important that we keep housing in the private rented sector at a high standard. Safety is paramount. 

“Our officers work diligently to ensure high standards, which will benefit tenants, good landlords and our community. These new measures will also help further reduce anti-social behaviour that can sometimes be associated with HMOs, and that can only be a good thing for everybody.”

The new borough-wide scheme includes most HMOs hosting three or more people with licences charged at £1,404 but with a 10 per cent discount for accredited landlords.

The council says it received 466 online responses to its consultation questionnaire and just nine written responses. Three events were attended by a total of just 29 homeowners, landlords and managing agents.

The council claims that overall some 53 per cent of respondents supported the re-introduction of additional licensing.

Some 40 per cent of respondents supported the introduction of selective licensing schemes – so far the council has not revealed proposals for new selective licensing schemes.