Selective Licencing comes to Birmingham April 2023?

Landlords need to vote with their feet and show solidarity.
Don't accept ant Tenants referred by a L.A that has a Licensing scheme.
You'd expect such a co-ordinated response be sent Nationally by Landlord representative groups ( NRLA - you know who you are !! )

You will have a lot more costs than what even u could think. The time on u will be shocking too. But surprisingly in 3 years, u will be better off financially as your tenants (Benefit tenants) can never move again, u have no voids, u can charge what rent u like. Below is some recent extracts from me on Selective Licensing which may help u. It has wrecked the housing market in Nottingham for Benefit tenant.

Do u wonder
@LindaWoodings

why your homeless hostels are all full? Have u seen Selective Licensing conditions https://https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sD_HRl57ANNw4PBAb-FGRU7h-0Qby9Vm5xLioH_nA7c/edit?usp=sharing
Would u take a Benefit tenant on
Come ask us what U NEED to do so we house your homeless people. Have u heard the saying Reward not punishment?

https://twitter.com/MickRobertsBoss/status/1506889253053247494?s=20&t=YldRuATWR_hO788foGwB0A

I'm same as Barry, u saying u bringing this Waste management plan in, but not retrospectively. On renewal. Well it is retrospectively if SAME tenant has lived in SAME house for 20 years. Anyway, what do I do cause my tenants are telling me to F-off, they not taking plan off 1/2
They say We not stupid Mick, we do what's been done for 20+ years, we look out window to see who's put what bin out and it's as simple as that. Your note in new licensing conditions scare normal landlords. U need university professor degree to understand em.
https://twitter.com/MickRobertsBoss/status/1506704814029381638?s=20&t=YldRuATWR_hO788foGwB0A

Most of u r very good. But are u perfect? Read Licensing conditions and tell yourself:
1. Could u comply with all them.
2. Would u take any tenant on that wasn't the most prim proper person ever?
3. If u was a landlord getting older, would u want to be dealing with that for EVERY house EVERY tenant?
4. Could u be doing with giving out 200 pages to each tenant each house.
5. Would u take a Benefit tenant on after being told u had to comply with them conditions?
Selective Licensing conditions Feb 2022
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sD_HRl57ANNw4PBAb-FGRU7h-0Qby9Vm5xLioH_nA7c/edit?usp=sharing

Selective Licensing-A Landlords point of view.

Firstly Landlords, u got to stop telling the Council how this Licensing may impact u. They not bothered.
But they don't like to get letters in from tenants.
If u do get on with your tenants & start to tell them, more onerous inspections, definitely rent increases to pay for it & the extra legislation & then Landlords sell, tenants become homeless, remaining Landlords can charge what they like. More Landlords there is, more choice tenants have & rents reduce or tenant moves up the road to the cheaper house.

Secondly, & I can only talk from experience of Nottingham & more so if Benefit tenants, if u have a lot of houses, this will temporarily wreck your life, but believe me here, it makes the tenants much more worse off in about 2 years & you will end up better off financially.

How is that u may ask? Cause Landlords start to sell in their droves, tenants talk, find out Landlord is selling cause of Licensing, he’s done nothing wrong, always done your repairs quick, yet now the Council has told him/her/u that u now got to spend £900 on a piece of paper & 2 hour administration each house, pay the Council for ID checking u, all cause some Landlord up the road is doing a bad job & they gonna’ use your money to go after him.
So forthwith, your tenants can no longer move any more cause other Landlords once they see Licensing’s onerous punitive conditions, they think I ain’t taking any old tenant now cause of that, I’m gonna’ fined if the tenant don’t cut their grass. I’m being Super Selective now. And wow, I’m getting 45 WORKING people queuing & bidding for my house-I’m charging more rent. So he does.
So your tenant also sees the more expensive rent, can’t afford to move anyway & now thinks Wow I’m not asking my current landlord ie. you for any repairs unless I really have to as he’s gonna’ give me a rent increase 1. Cause old low rents don’t pay for 2022 repairs. And 2. Just cause the Landlord can charge the higher rent. Supply demand. Just like an airline & holiday company.

You may look after your current tenant with cheaper rent, but should u ever happen to get one empty, u can now charge these new higher rents to new tenants u have no loyalty to, the higher rents Licensing has caused.
Also if existing tenants do ask for repairs, you now paying all this extra stuff out due to Licensing, u may wish to pass it onto the tenants in rent increases. Most Nottingham Landlords did. Council & Govt & Licensing forget tenants rent pays for EVERYTHING. If Council are increasing the outgoings, the rent has to be increased to cover this.

Also cause no houses coming empty, u have no big refurbs in-between.
My repairs bill has gone down roughly from 120k to 70k per year & approx 3 x 10k refurbs I’m no longer doing every year.

You that stays in business will be better off financially after the initial pain & torture of the admin & cost. Year 2 & onwards, what I'm saying will make sense. This will be hard to understand now.

Rents in Nottingham have risen approx 40% since Selective Licensing was introduced in 2018.

Licensing creates a problem where THERE WASN'T A PROBLEM BEFORE. That's all that's happening with Nottingham's Selective Licensing scheme, good landlords good tenants houses are getting worse & becoming homeless. Come charge us £250 per house & INSPECT EVERY house & they'd have much more support. Not all this bureaucracy & admin & paperwork.

The house is fine, tenant is fine, Landlord was fine.

We get this other problem & because Licensing is a problem that shun't be there & is totally unnecessary with some of their demands & to do's & conditions, the other problem, we then say Do u know what, I've had enough, I'm selling, let the Council home 'em.
This is happening with hundreds of Landlords in Nottingham.

This was a genuine letter from top Nottingham Letting Agent to Licensing.

Good morning Alistair,

I recognise the demanding job you and your staff have in administering tens of thousands of applications but I need to ask for some help.

I have a situation that is likely to result in a tenant being served notice and a perfectly good rental property being put up for sale. I‘ll try to be brief in the explanation but the email thread is below for you to consider.

We manage a property for a DASH accredited landlord who is at his wits end due to his mortgage repayments nearly doubling this month. His mortgage company will not re-mortgage without a final license. I have made several requests to your team asking if this application could be prioritised. The draft license was sent to us about a month ago and the second payment was made promptly. Your team has been helpful and professional but I believe this (and perhaps other) problem comes from strict systems with little room for common sense.

I have asked if it would be possible to expedite this particular license in the hope of resolving the problem but have been told that application must be ‘worked in order’.

Thank-you in advance.

There is Negatives:

If u wanted to start selling as tenants moved out, Benefit tenants won't be able to move any more, no Landlord once Selective Licensing is in if your conditions are same as Nottingham, ends up taking Benefit tenants any more. And also, rents elsewhere may be considerably more than your existing one.

Benefit Landlords, u will have no competition any more-If u had any before.

The Bad Landlords don't get Licensed & get fined later & Rent repayment order RRO made to tenants.
Good Landlords sometimes genuinely don't know & they get Civil Penalty fine too with RRO made to tenants, sometimes total of 14k Landlord has to pay out & then they find nothing wrong with his house. He packs up at the mis-treatment-So u staying in business have more tenants chasing your house.

If u specialise in Benefit tenants and u loyal to em, u and they have got a problem. As Benefit tenants will never be able to move again once Licensing comes in, especially if u have Universal Credit in your area too.

U will be more cautious now. U will bring forward your sale plans.

U gonna be better off financially eventually which we will get to later. The real losers are the tenants, especially Benefit tenants

I'd love the Government to renew Selective Licensing cause it's making me very wealthy. Those of us that were charging cheap rents before, we can now charge extortionate rents as there is no competition.

Selective Licensing as it's making me a fortune cause tenants can't move any more. No expensive refurbs. Tenants daren't ask for anything. All their mates been made homeless cause of Licensing. Thank u very much Selective Licensing for wrecking tenants lives, but improving mine.

Please Mr Govt can u renew Selective Licensing.
Benefit tenants can't move any more cause of Selective Licensing. Consequently, I can charge the most EXTORTIONATE rents u could imagine. And I'm still 1/3 cheaper than other Landlords who love Selective Licensing too.
Because they can't move, I have no refurbs to do in between saving me another £30,000 per year.
All their mates have been made homeless cause of Licensing. So my lot treat me like a King. They even offer to come & cook for me.
I have 60 calls a week from tenants who's been made homeless cause of Licensing, it's great to feel wanted & important.
Please renew Selective Licensing as it's gave me an income for life.
However it doesn't look good for your homeless figures, but swap your Housing Minister every year & then no one in Govt should get the blame then.
Thank u very much Selective Licensing for wrecking tenants lives, but improving mine.
Ooh sorry, there is a Negative, I want to sell all my houses but I can't cause the tenants can't move any more. I take all that back, please don't renew Selective Licensing, I'd like Benefit tenants to be able to have the choice to move again. Apologise, Really sorry about that.

Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 24/03/2022 - 07:34
at the min there is no further detail of what they expect us to adhere too. I know the list of requirements for Nottingham is ridiculous and I expect BCC who are absolutely dire to just copy and paste another Council list of such requirements to their own letterheaded paper and reel that out...

I await detail then weigh up the position of 'playing ball' or moving on to another game completely.

Either way tenant will suffer but it has to happen just to give me the flexibility to do what I want with my own property. A truly ridiculous situation.

Reply to the comment left by DSR at 25/03/2022 - 11:23
They do copy other Councils. We have Gedling Council next to Nottingham. I only have about 10 houses in Gedling, so fortunately none in the 4 streets they initially chose for Gedling.
Gedling Council are normally a nicer gentler slower Council. Whoopee Doo they DID as u say more or less copy Nottingham's conditions.
Gedling now are expanding the area even further.

I have just written to one of my tenants...

Hi XXXX

I just wanted to update you in regard to something that has just been released in the news that states from April 2023 Birmingham City Council will be charging Landlords £700 for a licence to rent a private property.

I am still digesting all the detail myself but I wanted you to know what I have found out so far.

Apparently charging this fee will ensure that anti social behaviour and crime in the areas which will be licenced are tackled, and ensure that decent housing standards are always met in every property.

With this licensing will come a raft of other requirements that may have to be carried out for example - upgrading existing standalone perfectly fine smoke alarms to fully interlinked ones and replacing all internal doors to full spec fire doors (as if the house were an HMO with at least 5 occupants).

Many of the licencing specific requirements will potentially go OVER and above the the current legal requirements for renting a property to a person or family.

To be able to rent any property to anyone in these licencing areas we will then have to carry out what is predicted to be a number of substantial, disruptive and and costly works. The biggest concern by far is the cost implication.

In a nut shell we will be in breach of licencing regulations and subject to substantial fines of £30,000 and possible criminal conviction, if we continue to let your home to you unless these works are carried out. Essentially this amounts to upgrades to your home without your consent and an increase in your rent to fund this.

The Council believe this will directly raise property standards, and as a result the renter will be happy at the end of the day to pay for this. The Council clearly don't see/care of the impact this will have in houses which are already completely legally compliant and where the renter is stable in their home and only just about managing to cope financially with in the current environment.

BUT I DO!

Once I know the full implication of what BCC licencing requirements are I will have to sit down and do a cost analysis as I will for every other rental property in these licencing areas. I will of course try to keep any rent increases to a minimum but the reality is I have no other choice and a rent increase will be inevitable.

As you can see this new licencing only serves to screw over both good Landlords and good tenants. There is enough existing legislation out there to find and fine the bad landlords that are not meeting any existing legal standards but the Council choose not to do this despite being given more money be central government to fund more inspectors. Far easier to sit and impose a plan to get lots of money in without doing anything AND without improving anything, yet being seen to be doing something.

I have written to the local MP about this and heard nothing back. A landlord perspective accounts for zero even where I have explained the implications to the tenant. If you feel angry enough to write to your councillor and MP then you may have more chance of a reply - you are the one that will be directly impacted and I'd love to know how they are going to defend this completely ridiculous plan.

Please be assured I always try to do my best to keep costs AND rent rises to the minimum but this licencing and any additional work will have an impact.

I will keep you updated when I know more of the requirements myself.

Reply to the comment left by DSR at 25/03/2022 - 13:18
Brilliant letter.

Yes. Council don't get it if tenant paying really cheap rent & happy for u to leave that bit of fence that wants doing, as 2010 rents don't pay for 2022 repairs. I can repair for u, but not on your old rent. As I did say I was going to give u rent increase every year with inflation, but I've not done as tried to look after u. But if Council insists stuff needs doing, Council ain't bothered if u paying cheap rent.
They want New Build standards. New builds cost more money.

I've tried to only increase when Benefits have increased the LHA amount, which as we know was once in April 2020, last time before that was 2015 2016.

EH DSR, u wait till u see the time involved with Licensing.
This email was sent to some Landlords in 2021 which gave me heart attack:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y-06BqT0c1yZVVabZx8jSW-KjUBvRm1YedQDQhmmLBk/edit?usp=sharing

What are the security arrangements at the property?
Do they want us to employ Bouncers?

Put their MP's email in your letter & tell them how to write to MP to make it simple for them.

I honestly believe a licensing scheme would weed out rogue landlords and lead to improvements in the quality of accommodation for rent. But this scheme is ridiculously expensive. It punishes good landlords and its amounts to a windfall tax on landlords who are deemed to be at fault for social problems, such as deprivation, anti-social behaviour and increasing levels of imigration.
I own the lease on a pod in a student accommodation block in Birmingham. I already face eye-watering costs for ground rent from my freeholder (a charitable trust) and service charges. Now the city council are demanding an excessive fee for a license to operate as a landlord. My block consists of 90 pods. The cost for a 5 year license is £700. That means the council will be raking in £63,000 ftrom one property alone over 5 years. How can that be justified or morally correct? Not surprisingly, I make no money from this pod. It is just a money pit.

Reply to the comment left by Andrew Bullock at 06/06/2023 - 14:33
It's been proven not to in Nottingham.
The Rogue Landlords haven't signed up. Us good landlords have now had less funds to do the refurbs we were going to do on the houses.
And then we've ended up better off over the years from the rent increases to pay for Licensing & tenants daren't ask for anything any more cause they've seen their mates Landlords sell cause of Licensing & high rents, so they can't move any more either.

Your block extortionate cost happened in Nottingham. Our EMPO Landlord association after some disagreeing got it reduced to much lower cost I believe.

SL started on 5th June for private rented properties in certain postcode areas (25 areas out of 69). £700 for 5 years.

Just found out BCC have also now introduced on the same day a small HMO licence required for 3 people or less (unrelated) in a property for £755 for 5 years.

This is bl##dy theft!