A public consultation has launched over whether landlords should need a licence to rent out homes in the London borough of Camden.
Camden Council is seeking views on proposals to introduce a licensing scheme for HMOs that fall outside the statutory licensing scheme – including flat shares.
Camden already licenses 300 HMOs in the borough under the mandatory scheme and proposes to widen this out to include bedsits, house shares and converted flats.
Earlier this year, environmental health officers surveyed more than 390 HMOs not covered by the mandatory licensing scheme. Two in five (44%) were found to have at least one serious or other health and safety hazard.
Cllr Sarah Hayward, leader of Camden Council, said: “Camden faces a housing crisis. There is no silver bullet to solve the housing crisis and tackling it needs us to look at a range of solutions to make a real difference to the living conditions of people who find a home in the private rented sector.
“A third of our residents live in privately rented homes, and it’s not just young professionals and students: more and more families are moving into privately rented housing as they find the cost of buying a home in the borough increasingly out of their reach.
“We want our residents to have safe and decent homes and to know that the support is there to assert their rights when things aren’t up to standard. At the same time, we want to enable landlords to provide a quality service and run successful businesses.
“We’ve already taken action in the very worst properties, however, our survey results show that residents, including tenants, landlords and people living near privately rented properties, think we can do more.
“Good-quality homes in multiple occupation can provide a decent and affordable place for our residents to live. Although we don’t have all the answers to improving standards in all homes, the proposals we are seeking the public’s views on would enable us to take action to ensure significant improvements in a larger number of properties across the borough.”
Under the proposals, landlords would have to apply for a five-year licence. Properties would be expected to meet a set of minimum standards before they could be licensed.
In a recent online survey, fewer than half of private tenants in Camden said they are satisfied with the overall quality of their home and three-quarters said they believe Camden can do more to help improve standards.
The public consultation runs until 11.59pm on Friday, November 14.
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