The government are on cloud nine when it comes to selective licensing

Not sure about Cloud Nine.

Cloud Cuckoo Land more like.

Councils are desperately short of money. Especially Labour controlled Councils. Selective licensing is simply another way to generate much needed income to help balance the book.

Like everything else, it’s another bill for the tenant to pay, one way for another.

Reply to the comment left by Whitby Host at 07/09/2023 - 19:24
There's been some audit that's not being released at moment. I've got wind that 'apparently' £2 million has been siphoned off from Selective Licensing 'ring-fenced- fund, fees from tenants rent increases to go towards the Council's other Housing accounts.

If anyone wants to do any digging. I may be wrong. There may be nothing in it. But suspicions end up having some truth in them.

Mick Roberts, I totally agree with you. Nottingham City Council at the last count are in the region of £1 billion in debt. YES that is one thousand million £'s. It appears that Nottingham City Council are not answerable to anyone for their continued malpractices. The selective licensing scheme forced on the Private rented sector landlords in Nottingham has meant rent increases at a level well over and above the normal level of incremental increases that normally apply. I have sold several of my properties in the Nottingham area with this unnecessary selective licensing scheme being the most deciding factor. For the properties I still own then the tenants pay more rent to compensate for the missed income. I started renting residential properties 35 years ago so you could assume that I am pretty experienced. Not according to some organisations that want me to undergo CPD (continued professional development) in order to score brownie points BUT AT A COST TO ME so I may get a small discount on (yes you guessed it ! ) the selective licensing scheme fee. You could not make this up. When will HM.Gov wake up and see PRS Landlords are selling up meaning less homes to rent are available. Less homes to rent pushes up 1) Homelessness 2) Rents. 3) County Court cases 4) Mental Health issues (PRS Landlords and tenants) The list goes on and on. Back in the day and I am talking only 6 or 7 years ago I felt proud as a self employed PRS landlord to be able to provide good quality safe homes to tenants, this meant very good relationships with my tenants. Now my tenants are disgruntled with higher that normal rent increases due to the ever increasing burden on PRS Landlords. ALSO, I DO NOT FEEL SELF EMPLOYED ANYMORE I feel controlled to the extent that I am not working for both the tenant and myself, but working for the local Authority who say do as I say Not as I Do. It is having an effect on me. I am caught up in a fiasco of utter BS. I have properties next to Nottingham City owned council houses the state of which are unbelievable. I have had tenants report of RAT INFESTED council owned houses next to mine, We report this to NCC and nothing gets done. YET if this were a PRS Landlord property then that would be a different matter. In my 35 years of being a PRS Landlord the worst EVER house I was unfortunate to enter was owned by a Housing Association. Yet Housing Associations are not licensed via the selective licensing schemes. What a complete shambles We are in, and it is not just the PRS Landlord but also tenants whom suffer this complete cock up of a system. Much Love,

I think it is helpful if you start from the position that when you are dealing with a Council you are not dealing with 'right minded people'. This is why we get frustrated with the decisions they make especially when it comes to money. As an example, all Local Authorities are legally bound to provide a balanced budget (I think before the 15th Feb each year) for the following fiscal year starting 6th April. The Finance Director is the person with this legal responsibility not the CEO. Thatcher brought this law in when taking on Liverpool Council in the 1980s, under Derek Hatton, who refused to put up council tax but also refused to stop spending thus not balancing the books. This comment is not interested in the politics of it but the consequences are for example Councils often include increased charges such as selective licencing, increased business rates to small businesses, increased fees for planning applications etc, etc... anything it likes really to show increased income and therefore a balanced budget. The fact that any idiot might ask... 'if we increase business rates some businesses might leave, or bring in licencing some landlords might sell up?' is of little concern to the council. The Council will simply end up in a worse position in 12 months and blame it on central government cuts. The example I have given isn't important. It's the mindset of the bods that is hard to understand unless you have swam with them. The decisions they make every day at every level will be unfathomable to most landlords who have a totally contrary mindset. I wish I had the answer to the deep rooted cultural problems in our public sector but i can't see it being fixed any time soon. Personally I just try to navigate the choppy waters without letting it getting me down and when the time is right I'll jump ship and head for the beach. In the meantime I try hard not to engage with Councils unless I am legally obliged to e.g. the £850 I'm just about to pay to renew my HMO license (25% increase). In my opinion.

Reply to the comment left by Landlord in Knots at 08/09/2023 - 11:48
Yes u know your stuff, but I suspect they not come to ask u either what they should be doing.

Yes pre 2015 there was no troubles. Well I did have tenants doing bunks on me as they could get elsewhere then, now we have less trouble tenants as they value us so much, but trouble off the Council & Gov for doing nothing wrong.

Ha ha yes I've had same only last week, Council houses rats next door into my tenants loft, cost me £180 for Rat man.

Reply to the comment left by MICHAEL REGAN at 08/09/2023 - 12:39
Yes, they do end up in worse position don't they.

Yes, since Licensing 2018 & I've had to deal with much much more Council people, it's unfathomable HOW THICK THE COUNCIL are. Proper Proper thick.
The Licensing staff has had 20 staff members round the computer when I send an email in ready for my torrent of abuse & some of em say
Well he's right isn't he. And occasionally something gets changed.

I take a positive out of a Negative, rents extortionate, tenants can't move, constant income.

In my view, having previously worked for large companies, is that the larger the organisation, the less the middle and lower ranked employees are allowed to think for themselves and stray from the rules, or in the case of Central Government and Local Government, from the policy set by the higher ups.

The lower ranked nobodies in NCC won’t change anything because that would be impossible at their low level in the scheme of things and because they just show up for their job, which possibly they hate, and count the hours until they can go home. Also they count the weeks until annual leave and then the years until they can collect their pension and retire.
The middle ranks in the Council are looking for promotion so won’t change anything that goes against the wishes of the higher ups.
The higher ups in the Council know whats going on but their primary interest is in maintaining their nice salaries and future pensions.
I honestly think most lower ranking Council employees are bored to death in their jobs.
Some of these Council nobodies will be pure evil who try to mess people up while being seen to be sticking to the rules, and some will be lovely and caring individuals who will do their best to help.
Rachel Maclean is no doubt a career politician climbing the political ladder.
Ultimately when people like Rachel McLean write their pure drivel I think they know it is drivel but are just playing the game and following policy from someone higher up. And policy is driven by an agenda which needs to be identified.
It could be NCC agenda is driven by Central Government strangling their budget and so they react by creating a policy of looking for any source of income from anywhere they can get it, including landlords.
I have no idea where this is all going to end but am now making my properties nice enough for sale if I decide to pull the trigger on the PRS.
Portugal beckons.

Reply to the comment left by Bristol Landlord at 08/09/2023 - 14:45
Yes very true,

No common sense at all.

And yes, they move roles that often, now our 4th Councillor in charge of housing in 5 years.