Council’s selective licensing scheme slammed by tribunal

Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 12/04/2023 - 05:46I read recently NCC got around to visiting less than 900 of the 25,000 properties that were mug enough to register for this scam of a scheme.
We ought to get a class action together to sue NCC for the return of the fees we all parted with - they did nothing other than launch a grift to tax landlords to pay for 80+ staff on this daft scheme - at the last roadshow me and a couple of other victims reckoned that more that 92% of ALL the fees taken went to their excessive salaries.

And, let us not forget the revelations of NCC misappropriating £30+ million of their own funds intended for their own housing stock . . . geez, you just could not write this stuff,

Reply to the comment left by Ed in NG at 12/04/2023 - 10:19
Yes there is all paltry figures flying about.

I had my first external inspection yesterday, some fence panels warped & dropping, that will go down as a bad house, good for their numbers.

Yes please start this class action off, I don't think anyone will though, I've paid Credit card just in case. Maybe in 10 years they will look back & say Remember when we made dozens of thousands homeless with Selective Licensing & cut low earning tenants supply right down.

If I knew how to kick a Class Action off I would.

Is that bolshy woman (the magistrate) still the chair of this scam? What horrible piece of work she is - that last roadshow, one of the landlords (we who pay for her jollies etc) responded to a point she was badly making, to which she snapped: "that's the end of that subject, next . . " a bit like listening to that clown Trump at a press briefing 🙂

Reply to the comment left by Ed in NG at 12/04/2023 - 12:03
Ha ha No. Linda Woodings. Nice woman apparently. Just not a clue about renting houses out.
Last Roadshow I went to was Dec 2019 & they admitted they have made some mistakes & will learn to which I said We told u then about the mistakes, u din't listen, u admit it now. U doing the same today, why not listen now? The Mike was took off me & wun't let me reply to her answer.
Yes she & them can't take criticism or positive negative feedback.

4th Councillor now in charge is:

toby.neal@nottinghamcity.gov.uk
New Councillor in charge of Selective Licensing-Knows nothing of housing low earners. Business. phone: 07734 525943

In reality, NCC need a good looking at and the whole process of the Selective Licensing needs to be audited which I am sure if that ever were to happen the thing would get canned.

Absolute joke.

Let's not forget that Accreditation we all had to do - another total waste of time and money - I sat through all those guff videos, then answered the questions afterwards - one of those "keep guessing until, you got it right". Seriously!

Reply to the comment left by Ed in NG at 12/04/2023 - 12:50
I got the National Audit office to do an investigation, my notes below, bit of a whitewash really. NCC covered thierselves announcing a new scheme & not a renewal of the existing scheme.
Yes accreditation now insisting on solid wood doors on normal family houses. How does that work when tenants paying cheap rent & not enough for New build standards.

Auditor notes: Makes u laugh, we told Licensing officers Loads of stuff were wrong, years later, they now say:

officers have clearly identified lessons from the first scheme which are being addressed in the proposals for second

Why din't they listen first time when we told them then?

We told em about block licenses, they din't act until nearly 2 years later.

Auditor said to me The Selective Licensing side of the Council has told him the Rented market in Nottingham is VERY buoyant. I said It is for Landlords, we have no competition. Selective Licensing has really shafted tenants. Along with Universal Credit.

Did 67% oppose the new scheme in the Consultation?
Definition of
@MyNottingham
Council when it consults on
@LindaWoodings
@cllrtobyneal
Licensing: A charade conducted to create an illusion of democracy, to be ignored if the outcome doesn't coincide with the authorities wishes, & celebrated as democracy in action if it does agree.

They say this:
These have identified a number of issues with the implementation, many of which chime with the issues raised by the would-be objector
So why take 5 years to act? We knew from day one.

And now we got Cost of Living Crisis, they pressing ahead again. As if tenants aren't paying enough already.

I had to send me SAME passport in 36 times-Why?

It seems in this audit report, the Council now acknowledge a lot of things:
but despite these efforts there
were teething problems which did delay the issue of licences. These have since been rectified.
When designing the application process, the Council decided to include a range of information about the properties which would assist it with risk assessment for inspections and also compiling information on energy efficiency. Officers now acknowledge that this did place a significant additional burden on applicants.

Why didn't they listen from day one? People have been made homeless cause of this, just one thing too many.

I had to argue like mad to say Impossible to do all my houses at same time. I din't buy 'em all in 1 week, would have been impossible. I don't get all boilers break in one day.
Nor would any business have the funds to pay for all Licenses all houses one month.

The Council should have had the foresight to know Licensing was going to start 1 Aug HOLIDAY season & TWO months before Universal Credit was going to start in Nottingham. Proper dimwits or what.

2100 External inspections? Wow £890 for a drive by.

Council say this:
The fees which Nottingham set for the scheme were within the range of fees set by other authorities at the time, albeit towards
the upper end of that range.
How can Oxford charge £250 then?

Without
measurable outcomes, it is much harder for the Council to demonstrate to critics of the scheme that it is worthwhile and
provides value for money. The interim review of the scheme identified many positive outcomes in terms of improvements
secured, and while the number of such improvements was measured, it is difficult to judge whether or not this represents real
success without any target having been set for such improvements.
Great.

We need to be asking the Homeless staff this then, cause they never get asked, nor do us Landlords why we are selling:
Any impact of Selective Licensing on homelessness would require landlords to be terminating tenancies as a result of the cost
or administrative burden of the scheme. Officers are confident that there has been no significant impact on homelessness,
based on the reasons being given by those presenting as homeless, which are many and varied, with no clear trend relating to
Selective Licensing, although their conclusion is not fully supported because the data is arguably not specific enough about
the reasons for homelessness.

Auditor report Mar23 https://committee.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/documents/s143098/Selective%20licensing%20JG%20180922%2019%20Aug%202022.pdf

Does anyone know what on earth is happening in Liverpool?!
Liverpool City Council reintroduced the Selective Licensing scheme back in April 2022 and here we are a year later and applications STILL have not been processed?!

I read somewhere that of the 31,000 applications for these licenses Liverpool Council has received, they've processed and issued approximately 104!!
At this rate it will take them more than 100 years to process applications received.
Unless the Council can guarantee that the licenses will be issued within a reasonable time, wouldn't this be grounds for refusing to comply?!....

Reply to the comment left by NCC are Shambolic at 11/04/2023 - 13:09
My licence saying the property in Nottingham was safe to let out was issued early in the month of August 2018.

Nottingham City Council (NCC) had failed to inspect most of the 26000+ registered properties by spring 2022.

Like chickens with no heads, they then panic into action, dashing here and there manically flying in and out of places seeing as the court of opinion has them down as using selective licensing as a money spinner, and that to keep the cash rolling in, they needed to get the inspections out of the way because they want to renew selective licensing.

They came to my place on day 1,817 of 1,825 - yes - 8 days before the licence was due to expire.

A hopelessly run scheme by NCC, delivering no value to us landlords.

Time this lot were challenged.

Reply to the comment left by NCC are Shambolic at 08/08/2023 - 10:01
They have no shame. We now on our 4th Councillor in charge of housing-He knows nothing of housing people.

Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 08/08/2023 - 10:55
But Gove has given another green light to NCC???!!!!

https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2023/7/michael-gove-gives-thumbs-up-to-another-labour-licensing-scheme