Almost a year after an official inquiry into the private rented sector, the Government has still not published its response.

The Communities and Local Government Committee’s inquiry specifically considered selective licensing and recommended that the Government should come up with some reforms.

The paper, Review of Property Conditions in the Private Rented Sector, criticised borough-wide licensing schemes – as in Newham and, from next month, Liverpool – and instead expressed a preference for voluntary accreditation.

Opinions were invited and the consultation closed at the end of March last year.

A new briefing note, Selective Licensing of Privately Rented Housing (England & Wales), has now been published and placed in the House of Commons library.

The paper, intended to brief MPs of all parties, underlines that local authorities cannot make money out of licensing schemes, and must only charge enough for them to be self-financing.

However, out of three schemes evaluated, none were raising enough to be self-financing and all were having to use other income streams.

While the Government has dragged its feet over publishing its response to the consultation, it has however decided to be more specific about how permission will be given for selective licensing scheme applications.

A new draft order under Section 260 (6) of the Housing Act 2004 stipulates that to be considered for selective licensing, the area must contain a high proportion of private rented housing.

The area must also meet one or more of four criteria: hazardous housing conditions; have high migration; suffer deprivation; have high rates of crime.

Richard Lambert, chief executive of the National Landlords Association, said: “The change in the legislation is welcome as it stops local councils introducing unnecessary borough-wide licensing schemes without an evidence base.

“Instead it pushes councils towards resolving specific issues in targeted local areas by outlining the key criteria by which schemes should be implemented and judged.

“We hope to see this progress before the dissolution of parliament later this month.”

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2015/9780111131435/pdfs/ukdsi_9780111131435_en.pdf

The MPs’ briefing paper is here