It’s been revealed that the cost of local council licences imposed on landlords varies hugely – and in at least one case goes as high as £1,250 a time.
Since Christmas the government has allowed councils to impose selective licensing schemes of any sie without the need for consent from Housing Secretary Angela Rayner.
Now property compliance service Yuno shows that the introduction of selective licence schemes has little impact on improving standards, although councils like them as it allows the issuing of cash-earning civil penalties.
Yuno claims that the law change implemented at Christmas means licensing schemes can be implemented without the landlord’s knowledge unless they are proactively keeping up with lettings legalities or their rental property is being managed by a qualified agent.
Chief executive Paul Conway says: “This will increase the chances of all landlords & agents being caught out by widening licensing in an area, especially if it’s not well publicised. It could also increase their ongoing costs due to the licence fee charged.”
Yuno says fees for new applications in Leeds are as high as £1,225 whereas they can be as low as £350 in Ashfield. Not licensing a property correctly could currently lead to fines of up to £30,000 per offence.
According to data from Yuno, there are 37 licensing schemes across England that are currently under consultation or could be coming soon to a council by which your properties will be affected by, some key schemes include:-
Blackpool – Selective Licence Scheme;
Carmarthenshire – Additional Licence Scheme;
Gateshead – Selective Licence Scheme;
Gelding – Selective Licence Scheme;
Lancaster- Selective Licence Scheme;
Manchester – Selective Licence Scheme;
Mansfield – Selective Licence Scheme;
Newcastle upon Tyne- Additional Licence Scheme;
North Lincolnshire- Selective Licence Scheme;
North Yorkshire – Selective Licence Scheme;
Reading – Selective Licence Scheme;
Rochdale – Additional Licence Scheme;
Salford – Selective Licence Scheme;
Sandwell – Additional Licence Scheme;
Stockton-on-Tees – Selective Licence Scheme;
Walsall – Additional Licence Scheme.
London will see several new licence schemes, including:-
City of Westminster – Selective Licence Scheme;
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham – Additional Licence Scheme;
London Borough of Enfield – Additional Licence Scheme;
London Borough of Wandsworth – Selective Licence Scheme;
London Borough of Waltham Forest – Additional Licence Scheme.
