A council is consulting on a licensing scheme – and describing it as an attempt “to raise standards for renters and protect them from rogue landlords.”
If Hackney’s Labour council rubber-stamps its proposals, most private landlords would need a five-year licence for each property they own, which would set a series of minimum standards to ensure they are well maintained and managed.
Fees could be set at up to £925 for a single home and £1,400 for an HMO. The scheme would be cost neutral, the council claims, with licensing fees covering its running costs and the cost of inspecting and monitoring the condition of homes in the borough.
Private rented homes make up nearly a third of residential properties in Hackney but the authority claims that a recent independent review of Hackney’s private rented sector found that a significant proportion of privately rented homes (17%) may contain serious hazards – above the national average of 10%. These issues are even more prevalent in HMOs with 30.1% of HMOs in the borough predicted to have a serious hazard.
Under the proposals, a selective licensing scheme could also be introduced for all private rented homes in 17 of the 21 wards in Hackney. The wards have been selected because of high proportions of private rented properties and high levels of poor housing conditions.
Caroline Woodley, Mayor of Hackney, says: “We’ve long campaigned for changes to the private rented sector, including a ban on section 21 no fault evictions.
“We know most landlords do the right thing but some of the conditions private tenants face are unacceptable and potentially dangerous. That is why we take strong enforcement action where we can, and why we’re proposing to introduce this new licensing scheme, which would allow us to regulate the majority of private rented homes in the borough and build a network of responsible landlords.
“These proposals need to work for both landlords and tenants so we’d urge them to have their say in the consultation.”
The consultation is open until Sunday September 21. People can have their say at: bit.ly/Hackney-Licensing.
