Croydon yet another area to introduce Selective Licensing

Hi Chris,

The scheme is enacted under the overarching legislation, this allows the LA to set whatever conditions that they thrink are reasonable and relevant. It does not have statutory staus in itself. The LA may not have set the right conditions but they were not intended to be unfair.

The scheme cannot make a profit, how many times do we have mention the Hemmings case before this is accepted.

I don't think that any part of Goverment will look favourably at the PRS at present the themes at DCLG are all about increasing regulation not reducing it. And no I think a well drafted licensing scheme can have the effects it is intended to, however I don't expect landlords to be supportive.

Reply to the comment left by "John Daley" at "29/07/2014 - 17:41":

Hi John

Could you please state the relevant "overarching legislation"?

You also said, " The LA may not have set the right conditions but they were not intended to be unfair" but you're talking here about specifying conditions under which decent, otherwise law abiding people could potentially be criminalised.

Reply to the comment left by "Paul Shears" at "28/06/2014 - 03:06":

No, your not the only one.
Grammatical protocol for the use of acronyms are that where a phrase is likely to be used a number of times, it will first be used in full and then have its abbreviation in brackets.
Thereafter, everyone knows what's been referred to.
However, that condition is unlikely to apply to small posts I would think. - particularly when an acronym is used only once.

Hi Mandy

The legislation is the Housing Act 2004, which introduced mandatory licensing and empowered LA's to extend licensing to smaller HMO's and PRS properties in general.

No one at this LA set out to draft unfair conditions, what would be the point ? The scheme was widely consulted and the conditions were made public. However having set the conditions they can reasonably expect landlords to comply with them.

I don't have any problem with a challenge at the tribunal, that is what they are for after all.

Everyone is law abiding until they are not and landlords have a clear choice to comply with licensing or not, just as you choose the speed you drive your car along the road.

Licensing is not a 'trap' it is your job as a landlord to become familiar with the trading environment where you operate, just the same as if you open a restaurant, a betting shop or a pub. If you break the law there are consequenses, being a landlord does not make that unfair in itself.

As is always the case, the competent landlord has no difficulty complying with licensing, it is the ineffective, careless and criminal who fall foul of the law.

It is in the LA's interest for everyone to be compliant and my experience is that only landlords who are guilty of a range of serious stuff are ever prosecuted, the average landlord who makes a mistake and then acts reasonably will be given a letter clearly stating what is required to be improved and provided that is acted upon no further action is ever taken. The LA does not have the time or staff to go after every little thing.

I find these constant references to a draconian conspiracy against landlords in particular difficult to understand. Empire building, profiteering, grinding down landlords because they hate the private sector. Can anyone actually produce any evidence of any of this. LA's are busy interfering in everyone's lives because they are told to by Government, that is their job.

indeed John - so whats so difficult to understand is why, in the case of Enfield, many law abiding LL's who rent their homes to tradesmen/women will find themselves facing a breach of their license for renting to them - trade vehicals are to be banned, the DCLG never set such conditions so reject totally that LA's are told to do this by HMG, just an example - no traps as you say, just the law and consequences.

I could be forgiven for thinking John you are airing positive views on SL as you'll be shortly (if not already) connected in the running of such a scheme are you able to say which one and can you post any details?

Hi Chris,

Actually I think you may have me on the vans condition, that might well be unreasonable. If a private owner can park his van why should a renter be prevented. Though in this case I understand that there is an LA power not related to licensing at all to regulate parking commercial vehicles. Perhaps that would have been a better route.

In general terms I am positive about good licensing proposals because I think it is a good way to regulate the bottom end of urban rental markets. I'm not disssembling about who I am or what I am doing but until I have approval and sign off on my current project I can't really say I am representing the views of any particular organisation. It would not be hard to find out what I'm up to.

There is consultation going on and our thinking is beng shared with local landlords.

Reply to the comment left by "John Daley" at "30/07/2014 - 15:14":

love the job description here kinda nails the thinking in one local authority >>>>...... are currently seeking a Data / Crime Analyst to work in East London on a 6 month contract. The ideal candidate will have experience in a similar role with a local authority. The role is paying £40,000pa.

The Role

Data requirements for analysis to support a Selective Licensing Scheme for the Private Rented Sector

Reply to the comment left by "chris wright" at "30/07/2014 - 17:26":

another job - this one is to help the council get evidence for selective licensing in the first place>>>

Are you an experienced Crime Analyst?
Do you have experience working with Local Authority?
Are you Immediately Available?
In this role, you will be required to:
Analyse crime and disorder data to identify problems and inform decision making and tasking of resources;

Work with a variety of partners to gain access to data;

Manipulate large data files accurately and under time pressure to produce statistics and recommendations;

Lead the analysis work on the Redbridge Housing Accreditation Project;Develop problem profile for domestic violence;

Undertake analysis of violent crime data to support new Licensing initiatives/policy.

Hi Chris,

All London Councils have people doing this already because it is a part of crime and community safety recording. However as we have seen it is a fairly integral part of building a Selective case.

As I have remarked before I think this is going to keep expanding and the LL representative bodies should consider changing their stance to work with LA's to develop a best practice model for licensing rather than opposing the whole idea. I think there are LA's who want to balance the field in the letting market and develop proposals that can work for both sides.

All the effort going into opposing licensing is not much more than delaying the spread of schemes. Surely it makes more sense to be able to see the way things really are and be able to say with some certainty that good licensing looks like this !