A council launching a new selective licensing regime admits that three quarters of the applicants so far have omitted to provide “vital information”.

Leicester council introduced Selective Licensing in three areas in October 2022, requiring privately-rented homes to be licensed in order to protect the most vulnerable people, help safeguard tenants and identify rogue landlords.

Landlords in those areas must apply for licences and if they do so before April 10 they can benefit from an early bird offer which discounts the cost of a licence by 10 per cent.

The scheme will run for five years and without discounts the licence will cost £1,090 per property. 

Since the scheme was launched over 700 applications for licences have been submitted, but the council admits that “three quarters of those were missing vital information, meaning a delay in granting the licence while the additional information was handed in.”

Over 230 full licences have so far been issued, along with 97 draft licences which will become full licences after 14 days.

The combined area of the schemes covers less than 20 percent of Leicester’s geographical area and fewer than one in five privately rented homes in the city.

A council spokesperson says: “The scheme has now been running for four months, and in that time we’ve already addressed a range of safety issues which landlords needed to sort out in order to ensure their properties meet a suitably high standard.

“Landlords who have not yet applied need to do so, and if they apply before April 10 will benefit from a discounted rate. We’re running a series of drop-in sessions over the coming weeks to ensure that all landlords who are eligible are aware of what they need to do, and why.”