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Council launches consultation on three licensing regimes

A council is consulting over a range of private rental sector measures. 

Leicester council is proposing a range of measures requiring landlords and properties to be licensed.

Three different options – or combinations of these options – are being consulted upon.

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The first approach would involve bringing in Selective Licensing, which would require all privately-rented properties to be licensed by the city council.

A second option proposes introducing citywide Additional Licensing, which would require all small HMOs occupied by three or four unrelated tenants who share facilities such as kitchens and bathrooms, to be licensed. It would operate in all areas of the city, except where Selective Licensing may be in place if both approaches are used at the same time.

A third option would bring in Additional Licensing only within specified parts of the city.

Each of the proposed licensing measures would place conditions on the landlord to ensure issues such as gas and electrical safety, installation of smoke, fire and carbon monoxide alarms are adequately dealt with, along with matters such a repairs and maintenance, waste disposal, tenancy management and addressing antisocial behaviour.

The consultation on the three approaches has now been launched and will run until February 22, 2022.

Leicester assistant city mayor for housing, Councillor Elly Cutkelvin, says: “Access to decent affordable housing is essential to support good health and wellbeing and a good quality of life.

“Ongoing pressures within the housing market mean that for many, including a rising proportion of families, the only chance of a decent home is a private rented tenancy.

“We are committed to improving the quality of private-sector rented housing in the city, by ensuring both landlords and tenants are supported and engaged with us.

“Our responsibility is to protect the most vulnerable people by ensuring their housing, and their landlords, meet a higher standard in terms of safety, maintenance and the effect on the wider community.

“Additional Licensing would include smaller HMOs of three or more people, rather than five or more, and ensuring they are properly licensed.

“Selective Licensing would give us the powers to ensure all properties in those targeted areas are licensed.

“While licensing helps us improve safety standards in the first instance, with a robust enforcement action plan it can also benefit the wider community.”

Last month the council announced it was launching a consultation on plans to expand legislation known as an Article 4 Direction, which means planning permission would be needed to convert any house into a HMO in certain areas of the city.

An Article 4 Direction already exists covering parts of the city.

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  • Philip Savva

    The main thing they forgot to mention in this article is the fact that yet again landlords are an easy target to create much needed extra revenue for the poorly run councils in the way License fees

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    Agreed ...and it is tenants who bear the costs in increased rent.

     
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    The end user always pays, haven't councils woken up to this yet ?

     
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    Andrew

    Councils don't care.

    Time the decent tenants recognised this and took Councils and Government to task for loading on such unnecessary extra costs.

     
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    Robert, you took the words of of my mouth. They really, really do not care. When we had the licensing "consultation" down here, dozens of us told them to their faces that rents would rise to cover the costs. The blank, "what are you talking about?" looks said it all. They went ahead, rents rose! I've emailed my MP also on numerous occasions - he doesn't care either

     
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    The Re-Licensing again and again that’s the killer. When many never done one, while others are not required to do so. When you have done everything they wanted brought it up to standard why can’t we be left alone until everyone else have done the same.

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    In Glasgow they keep inventing new requirements for law abiding landlords to meet at additional cost every three years when they charge over £950 for a further 3 year licence.

    My rents went up about 30% in 2004 when Glasgow brought in licensing with regular increases thereafter and a further 30% in 2018 after the SNP anti prs legislation came in banning fixed term tenancies agreed by both landlords and tenants and making repossession much more difficult and expensive.

    Upshot is one flat, rented for £550 in 2003 is now £2100 per month and another has gone from under £400 to nearly £1400. Rents had also been pretty unchanged from mid 1990's to 2003. Demand has never been higher and the new high rents are never quibbled.

    Council and Government interference pushes up rents and decent tenants have to foot the bill!

     
  • George Dawes

    The public sector don’t live in the real world

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    Robert, different kettle of fish for me some rents haven’t hardly stirred in years since 2006 when Mandatory licensing was introduced following 2004 housing Act, as an example one that has been licensed 3 times is 5 double bedrooms 25 X 12 lounge dining room separate fully equipped kitchen, 2 kitchen sinks with range cooker double oven / 8 burner hob, American style fridge/freezer etc, Garden, 2 parking spaces, in London, Zone 3, currently let for £2’200 pcm, and hammered with regulation’s, so if can get £2’100 pcm for one bed in Scotland good luck to you.

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    Sorry Robert my mistake you didn’t say how many bed your flat was.

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    Michael

    In Scotland, any property let to more than 2 unrelated adults has needed an HMO licence since 2004, costing nearly £2000 for the first 3 years and over £950 for every 3 year period thereafter. A normal 3 bed flat pays the same licence fee as a "proper" HMO property sleeping 10 "households" which is crazy and led to higher rents and lower availability of normal flat shares for 3 or 4 people.

    In addition we had to spend over £5000 on interlinked smoke alarms, fire doors, 24 hour exit lights etc. to get the licence and since then at the 3 yearly inspections we have had to upgrade to 6 accessible power points per Rom ( I.e. not behind furniture or beds etc.), had to fit intumescent collars on extractor fans, threshold bars on doors, rehang fire doors which no longer had a perfect seal due to wear and tear, abuse, building movement etc.

    The £2100 flat sleeps 4 in 4 large double rooms, the £1400 flat sleeps 3 with the lounge now converted into a third double bedroom ( had to disconnect its gas fire before licence issued).

    The bigger flat is very similar to one that I shared with 7 other guys (and often a few female overnight guests) in the very next street, but that's no longer allowed in Glasgow, even although it would help the housing shortage!

    I can't remember how much rent we paid as it simply didn't figure, leaving us well able to afford severe food and alcohol poisoning almost every night. Ask today's students how they would prefer to spend their cash. The do gooder lefties have taken this choice away from today's youth!

     
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    A 2 double bed Flat in zone 3 will set you back £500’k and rent for £1200/1300pm. I have one 2 bed let for £1200 pm because they are struggling, and a good size 3 bed let for £1350 pm both licensed and up graded to comply with building regulation’s 1991, (shouldn’t have needed a license the council didn’t know their own rules) with good living rooms and private gardens. I have no doubt you have London rents in Glasgow without the high purchase costs of the property,
    we are stuffed .

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    Yes. Although I despise the SNP and everything they stand for, I do acknowledge how much richer they have unintentionally made me with their ludicrous interference in the prs.

    They are however trying to make amends to their own supporters forced to pay these high rents by charging the highest levels of Income tax and property taxes in the UK, although most of their supporters won't pay much if anything in Income tax etc.

    Only those taxes not yet devolved have not been increased in Scotland.

    Incidentally our Council Tax charges are also much higher than compatible properties in England.

    For comparison, my Glasgow flat getting £2100 per month would sell for around £350k and be charged around £3000 per annum in Council Tax. The £1400 flat would be about £240k to buy and £2400 Council Tax.

     
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