The Labour-controlled Swansea council in south Wales is being asked by a landlord body to rethink its licensing proposals.
The authority is pushing ahead with an additional licensing scheme for HMOs in one ward - St Thomas - and wishes to renew existing schemes in the Castle and Uplands wards.
The decision has been backed by all parties but flies in the face of advice from the National Residential Landlords Association.
Early this year the Residential Landlords Association - prior to the establishment of the NRLA - highlighted concerns over the high cost of the licence; the scheme's fees are similar to that of additional licensing schemes in London where the operating costs would be expected to be higher.
When it comes into operation on February 15 next year HMO landlords in the wards will be obliged to pay for a licence costing between £714 and £1,020, on top of the Rent Smart Wales licence that landlords in the area already have to pay.
The council has claimed the scheme would be a tool to improve standards by working with landlords, with the licence income being used to recruit enforcement officers.
However, the council has acknowledged that recruitment will be challenging during the pandemic and in the light of that the NRLA has contacted the council asking for at least a postponement of the scheme.
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Just a money -making scheme that will result in increased rent.
Crooks - All of them.
I guess that is around two months rent p.a.. When will councils realise that the proletariat and peasantry can only pay just so much tax. ? The eventuality is that the area will decline into a slum as landlords walk away from their assets. The councils will end up with nothing except perhaps the land and a slum.
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