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Written by Emma Lunn

Local councils will no longer have the clout to licence landlords across a whole borough or city after housing minister Brandon Lewis announced reforms of selective licensing, restricting local decision-making powers.

Since 2010, local councils have had the power to licence landlords across an entire borough or jurisdiction in order to combat issues such as anti-social behaviour in so-called ‘hotspot areas’. This has led to a sharp increase in the number of schemes being introduced.
 
However, the changes mean that councils will require government approval before implementing a licensing scheme if they plan to license a large area or proportion of the market – likely to be above 20% of either the geographical area covered by the council or the local private rented sector. The changes will come into effect on 1 April 2015.
 
The decision comes after sustained lobbying efforts by the National Landlord Association (NLA) since 2010 and after the NLA published its report on the state of landlord licensing across the country, in February.

The report points to a boom in the number of blanket licensing schemes since 2010 but highlights a lack of enforcement actions being taken by local councils. It also shows a correlation between the political control of a council and their tendency to license landlords.
 
Richard Lambert, chief executive officer at the NLA, said: “We’ve argued solidly since 2010 that councils have been abusing their power to push through blanket licensing schemes.  Today’s announcement means that if a council intends to licence a large proportion of its housing it will first need to show the case stands up to independent scrutiny.

“The Government was the first to see a copy of our licensing report, and we’re delighted they have listened to our case because at present the driving force behind licensing landlords seems to be the political will of a given local council, regardless of the evidence.
 
“Many local councils won’t like this decision one bit because until now they’ve been their own judges, and the only way for landlords to challenge them has been through the difficult and complex route of judicial review.
 
“Landlords are getting fed up with being unfairly targeted and made responsible for problems such as anti-social behaviour when in reality they have little effective control over the issue, except by eviction. Hopefully this now means that councils who are serious about tackling poor property standards and anti-social behaviour will first look to the extensive existing legal powers they already have to combat the issues.”

Comments

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    Does this only apply to schemes introduced after April 1 or becoming enforceable after that date?

    Hopefully the same will happen with article 4 where in my area I am aware of lots of professional sharers who can't get accomodation as LA/planning law deems all shared houses ( 3 plus unrelated households ) a change of use from C3 to C4 if when no alterations have been done

    • 15 March 2015 11:02 AM
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    ..and now, as expected, is the counter argument from left..

    http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/tenancies/anger-over-plans-to-limit-prs-licensing/7008752.article?adfesuccess=1

    • 13 March 2015 12:04 PM
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    I`ve had experience of this over-bearing legislation being imposed without reference. I suspect local councils designate an area to `licence` in order to;

    1.Raise exorbitant fees from landlords.
    2.Create a workload that will keep them employed for as long as it takes.
    3.Talk down to landlords because they have the `authority`. Political (left-wing) bias is quickly introduced by councils officials when landlords are interviewed to compell L/lords to do as they are told. This interface of opposing political views is the basis of disputes twixt councils & the PRS.

    I`m delighted Brandon Lewis has reigned in these left-wing control freaks.

    • 13 March 2015 09:22 AM
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