0:02 AM, 23rd December 2024, About 4 hours ago
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A licensing expert has slammed the government’s new selective licensing rules as “not improving standards but lining councils’ coffers.”
Phil Turtle, a director of Landlord Licensing & Defence, says the new selective licensing the new rules will ultimately hurt tenants as landlords raise rents to cover the costs of licensing fees.
From today, all councils will be able to introduce selective licensing schemes of any size without needing approval from the Secretary of State.
Selective licensing schemes involve designated areas where privately rented properties have to be licensed with the local authority.
Local authorities are currently required to seek approval from the Secretary of State for selective licensing schemes covering more than 20% of the area, but from today, this requirement will be lifted.
While councils will now have more autonomy, they must still adhere to a mandatory 10-week public consultation period before introducing a scheme.
Councils will also be required to provide regular updates to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the progress of their schemes.
Mr Turtle says a consultation by local authorities on whether to introduce selective licensing is ultimately biased.
He said: “From today, any council can launch any selective licensing scheme they want with no need to get approval from the Secretary of State.
“All they have to do is one of their meaningless and rigged ‘consultations’ with almost always a totally unrepresentative sample of stakeholders, almost zero input from landlords or tenants and questions that don’t even hide the fact they are designed to get the answers the local authority needs to do what it intends to do anyway regardless of the opinions of stakeholders.
“The recent selective licensing ‘consultation’ by Leeds City Council was one of the worst examples with leading consultation questions this firm has ever seen.”
Mr Turtle adds that landlords could be fined up to £40,000 in some cases for not having a licence.
He said: “So, far from the private rented sector heading towards the national landlord database as a simple and workable alternative to selective licensing, we now are on the starting blocks for every council to require every rental property to be licensed under what will become 340-odd councils with 300-odd different licensing schemes.
“All with the covert aim of being able to criminally prosecute and fine landlords for breach of licence conditions – many of which in this firm’s experience constitute double jeopardy with exiting legislation, entrapment and councils offloading their legal responsibility for anti-social behaviour (ASB) onto landlords with no ASB skills or training and making landlords criminally responsible ASB in the entire area around their rental properties!
“Breach of a selective licence condition is a criminal offence with unlimited fines in the courts or councils can issue a civil penalty fine of up to £30,000 and keep the money for the cash-strapped council’s coffers.
“Also, that £30,000 fine is rising to £40,000 (and a minimum of £7,000) for most Housing Act offences under the Renters’ Rights Bill’s heavily upgraded enforcement provisions.”
Mr Turtle adds: “It looks clearly like the councils will use this power to introduce a scheme to boost revenue collection from licence fees and fines which all landlords and, ultimately, tenants, must pay. Selective licencing schemes in England typically cost around £1,000 (£200/year) compared to the far better scheme in Jersey that is only £30/year.
“This move is nothing less than the government giving away any vestiges of control they had over out-of-control Local Housing Authorities and giving the go-ahead for out-of-control local council money-raising schemes.”
