The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health has written to Housing Secretary Michael Gove urging him to make it easier for councils to implement selective licensing.
The trade body argues that selective licensing has a crucial role to play in delivering the government’s levelling up agenda, especially in delivering the commitment to halving the number of non-decent homes across all tenures by 2030.
Ross Matthewman, CIEH head of policy and campaigns, says: “The tragic death of Awaab Ishak has highlighted the importance of improving housing conditions in all types of tenure to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.
“There are several ways in which the UK government could make it easier for local authorities to use selective licensing schemes to improve housing conditions in the private rented sector.
“Firstly, the government needs to ensure that local authorities operating such schemes can improve housing conditions through licence conditions. The independent review highlights a disconnect in the legislation whereby local authorities can introduce selective licensing to tackle poor property conditions but cannot include a directly enforceable requirement relating to property condition as a condition of the licence itself.
“Secondly, the government should use national landlord registration to support selective licensing. The proposed property portal is a step in the right direction. We are unclear though whether it will provide local authorities with the information they need in order to check the suitability of landlords before issuing a licence.
“Thirdly, the government should make it easier to set up selective licensing schemes. We are concerned that some local authorities may be deterred from setting up such schemes by the bureaucracy and expense involved in doing so.
“We hope that Michael Gove and his team will work with us to address these issues.”
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Kerching 💰💰 roll up, roll up …. Get your free money here.
Not against a national scheme, but local schemes sound expensive for landlords with just one property in a number of different council areas. Another cost to pass on to tenant or sell up.
That tragic death was not in the PRS it was in social housing, it also has to be said that the parents played a part by not wiping away the mould
Environmental Health would achieve their targets faster if they implemented training in community centres for
1) The importance of adequate heating and ventilation in a property
2) The importance of cleaning in a property
3) How to keep your property in order if new to living in the UK (Might have to run a few sessions for that one)
4) How to speak with respect to your LL/agent when reporting repairs
That will achieve their aim quickly and efficiently. Oh nearly forgot mandatory attendance if your LL/agent designates
Didn't the tragic death occur in Social Housing? I have many years experience of the lack of action of a Local Authority freeholder regarding water ingress and damp. We first reported the current issue in December 2020. It was actually an expansion of an issue we had initially reported in 2012. After multiple missed appointments a surveyor finally turned up in October 2021, agreed a course of action with me and then went back to his office and wrote "no action required". My tenant still has water ingress and damp and I'm waiting for another surveyor to turn up.
How is licensing in the PRS going to improve anything?
Don't we already have numerous ways for Local Authorities to enforce decent standards?
Wouldn't licensing be yet another reason that would make existing landlords sell up and be a barrier for new landlords entering the industry, especially the accidental ones?
Wouldn't that lead to more overcrowding, poorer standards, higher rents and more homeless people for Local Authorities to house in hotels?
I am a licensed landlord. It's just one of those things you have to do if you want to own HMOs. In reality it's just a bit more paperwork to do and something else to pay for. A few hundred quid every 5 years for a license spread across 5 or more tenants is pence per week on their rent. On a one bed flat it would add at least £2 a week to the rent, maybe even £5 or £6. That's money the tenant could otherwise spend on food or heating.
For the license fee we might get an inspection every few years. It would usually consist of a 30 minute visit and a 10 minute follow up if they found anything they wanted us to do. That's about it for a £700 license fee.
I guess the real problem is when they find somewhere horrendous. What do they do with all the extra tenants in overcrowding situations? What do they do with whole households when conditions are unsafe?
Could it be that if they are spending their days inspecting mainly very good housing they haven't got time to discover too many bad ones? Rogue landlords aren't going to get licensed anyway so won't be found by expanding licensing schemes.
In 6 years of having a large portfolio, each with a licence in place including the more stringent HMO licence, not once have I ever been inspected. The licence is simply a document created online and then digitally sent to the landlord. It is not worth the paper it is printed on. £1100 for an HMO licence which of course i passed on to my tenants with a £100 per month increase.
This will achieve 4 things:
1. More free money for councils
2. Increased rents across the board
3. No noticeable improvement in quality of rental stock
4. Reduction in available properties at the lower end of the market.
Great work - keep it up.
Exactly… the council’s need money … BAD, this is a perfect way.
My LA (Lewisham) made a consultation recently. Zero information about the LA's quality commitments or success criteria of the scheme, and they even asked respondents if they thought the LL charges were fair. How can anyone judge that if there's no commitment in exchange for the millions raised? If schemes are allowed to go ahead, LAs should be clearly accountable for measurable quality / improvement goals and the funds must be ring-fenced.
Jo, steady on although I agree in part with what you are saying. It’s true the Regulations were never required as the local Authorities had all the power they ever need as far bay as 1992, to require the landlords to do anything they wanted, however licensing is a different matter and expensive.
HMO’s is sadly not a few hundred or a few quid.but thousands of pounds. Jo I’ll assume you are talking about a Selective license for a one bed Flat. A HMO license was about £600. back in thy start in 2006 now increased to £1500, approx I say approx because they now add extra £50 on top of standard fee for each room including living rooms and sometimes kitchen, so it’s about £1300. Fee + £50 per room extra for Mandatory.
and £1100. Application Fee + the £50’s for each room on top for Additional license.
That is your dead money for for Council.
The Compliance is another storey and expensive, too much to go into right now.
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