Oxford City Council has embarked on an awareness campaign to get tenants to check if their landlord is licensed.

It comes as the local authority’s licensing scheme enters its third year.

During the first two years of selective licensing, private landlords and agents made 11,940 licence applications covering 13,580 homes, the council said.

It has issued licences for 9,518 homes under selective licensing.  

A further 3,174 properties are also licensed as shared houses. 

An alert from the council said: “As its citywide licensing scheme enters its third year, Oxford City Council has a question for private tenants: does your landlord have a licence?

In 2022, the Council said it helped 44 tenants win nearly £85,000 at the First Tier Tribunal after it found they had been living in unlicensed student accommodation. 

Unlicensed landlords and agents are at risk of other enforcement action, the council warned.

It can issue financial penalties of up to £30,000 and the courts have the power to impose unlimited fines for unlicensed homes. 

As well as RROs, unlicensed landlords and agents may have to repay any housing benefit paid to them by the Council. 

Unlicensed landlords cannot serve a section 21 ‘(no fault’) eviction notice. This means they cannot evade licensing rules by evicting tenants.