Running the Selective Licensing gauntlet?

Running the Selective Licensing gauntlet?

0:01 AM, 17th August 2023, About A year ago 16

Text Size

Hello, selective licensing is now in place in an area I have properties in. The online application process requires me to pay for the Part A fee (as they call it) of £295.00 by credit card at the end in order for the application to be sent to them.

By having no choice but to complete the application online and having to pay Part A in this way, then means a ‘pre-authorised payment’ Part B (£405.00) is then automatically triggered after the draft licence is issued.

1. I have no way of knowing when this £405 will be taken
2. I have not ‘authorised’ this pre-payment at all
3. Once the draft licence is issued there is a 20-day ‘representation period’. I have been told, this is there if the applicant (and all other interested parties who are listed on the application) should have concerns over any additional information provided or if they would like us to consider a different occupancy value, for example where one room may have been below minimum requirements for 2 people by a small margin – in which case we would review the measurements and consider amending to reflect this.

To my mind, the automatic grab of £405 at this point is not correct as the licence is still in draft form (and is not a ‘successful’ application) until this 20-day period had lapsed. If this is still being processed then money can only be taken for this purpose. As there may well be fundamental changes that have to be applied to the licence (eg occupancy moves from 4 to 3 or 2 people for example.) The licence is not in its finality until then.

As a result, I should:

1. Not be charged Part B until after day 20 (see below Provision of Services Regulations 2009 (4))
2. The automatic pre-payment authorisation trigger should be removed from the initial application system as this is in contradiction to case law (see below)
3. It should be able then to pay by BACS payment for Part B at the point when the licence has been properly detailed and both parties are in agreement of such (see below Provision of Services Regulations 2009 (3)

The council have replied and stated: “A draft copy is, in essence the council’s way of stating we are prepared to issue a full licence under these terms, and therefore we can and have every right to source a payment at point of issuing this copy”,

But I feel this is in total contradiction to existing Case law-

R (Hemming, t/a Simply Pleasure Ltd) v Westminster CC [2015] UKSC 25; [2015] AC 1600:

· Part 1 – a fee levied at the point of application, to cover the costs of the scheme’s ‘authorisation procedures and formalities’, i.e. the costs of processing the application; and

· Part 2 – if the application is successful, a further fee to cover the costs of running and enforcing the scheme.

The Provision of Services Regulations 2009 also states that

(4) Any charges provided for by a competent authority which applicants may incur under an authorisation scheme must be reasonable and proportionate to the cost of the procedures and formalities under the scheme and must not exceed the cost of those procedures and formalities.

The act also goes on to state that

(3) Authorisation procedures and formalities provided for by a competent authority under an authorisation scheme must be easily accessible.

Anyone come across this issue before?

The Council in question has clearly bought an off the shelf SL application package from a company that provided the same to another council as they followed up with “Just as many other local councils who adopted this licensing scheme before we have done – evidence is widely available on other councils websites should you wish to confirm this”

Thanks,

Reluctant Landlord


Share This Article


Comments

Mick Roberts

Become a Member

If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments, posts and send them messages!

Sign Up

11:06 AM, 18th August 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by David Houghton at 17/08/2023 - 20:40
Nottingham did have to do this eventually as there were 100's just couldn't do their online form.
I'm quite with it in terms of tech and doing stuff on computer and it was awful and frustrating for me

Reluctant Landlord

Become a Member

If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments, posts and send them messages!

Sign Up

15:35 PM, 18th August 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by David Houghton at 17/08/2023 - 20:40
say the dont accept paper copies either in the post, or scanned and emailed to the SL direct email address.

I have to go to the office miles away and in a really rough area to fill it in in person with them and still have to pay by credit card or bank card. I told them this is pointless unnecessary and discriminatory.

SL applications are NOT required by law to be aligned to a mandatory set method of payment. The fact that some applicants can pay by bacs means that it should be applicable fairly to all.

Contango

Become a Member

If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments, posts and send them messages!

Sign Up

10:16 AM, 19th August 2023, About A year ago

Is there a centralised list of all selective additional licensing areas?

We were completely unaware that one particular London Borough where we have some ASTs had brought it in. If as a landlord you don't receive correspondence and local papers how are you meant to know to apply?

Mick Roberts

Become a Member

If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments, posts and send them messages!

Sign Up

10:45 AM, 19th August 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by Contango at 19/08/2023 - 10:16
Exactly.
I used to get many Generation Rent people slag a Landlord off when he had been fined for not having a License & sometimes 2 x 6k Rent Repayment Orders.
My defence to Landlord is
Some genuinely do not know if they live out of town & don't talk to other Landlords.

Rent groups jump for Joy at £12,000 fine on Greedy robbing conniving Landlord. Ooh them current tenants get a pay day Great. Guess what now? That Landlord sells, had enough, less houses for rest of Generation rent & more expensive rents fro the rest of tenants waiting. That's what Selective Licensing does.

Reluctant Landlord

Become a Member

If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments, posts and send them messages!

Sign Up

13:03 PM, 19th August 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by Contango at 19/08/2023 - 10:16
you are supposed to be a mind reader. Had this out with my council. I don't live in the area myself, Had no idea of their plans, no notification of the detail and to this day have not been informed personally.

They say they check all the SL applications against Land Registry details before they issue the licence - so they know the property owner already.

Why not write to them directly in the first place?

Furthermore they never even gave notice to the tenant who actually lives in the property who will ultimately be paying for the licence fee and any other 'requirements/changes to house' by way of rent increase!

Judith Wordsworth

Become a Member

If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments, posts and send them messages!

Sign Up

9:56 AM, 20th August 2023, About A year ago

Print the form off, complete it, put a cheque in for initial Part A amount. Then post it to the Property Licensing Dept.
Chase up by phone and email when cheque cleared or after 4 weeks to check progress of the application.
Tell them you do not have a debit card or credit card due to being scammed recently 😉

Leave Comments

In order to post comments you will need to Sign In or Sign Up for a FREE Membership

or

Don't have an account? Sign Up

Landlord Automated Assistant Read More