A coastal town could become the latest local authority to introduce a landlord licensing scheme – despite having rejected one six years ago.
Councillors at Southend-on-Sea Borough Council are now set to consider introducing a licensing scheme in a policy and resources scrutiny committee meeting scheduled for today.
A briefing document for the council estimates a borough-wide scheme could cost up to £12m for the 17,000 to 20,000 landlords in the area.
It suggests landlords could pay a minimum licensing fee of £920.
However, the document warns that any scheme could face a judicial review and that enforcement and staff would need to be boosted at the council.
The committee is due to consider three options. The first is to just boost its monitoring and enforcement of rental properties, the second is to do this but keep either area-based or borough-wide licensing under consideration, or to go for some form of licensing.
An estimated 23% of homes in Southend are privately rented, with many being Houses in Multiple Occupation.
Comments (4)
Talking borough wide licensing shows the true colours of a money raising scheme. Most councils use the “anti social behavior” ticket to justify their licensing policy. So for rogue councils like Croydon, according to them, ALL AREAS SUFFER ANTI SOCIAL BEHAVIOR! but I doubt the residents of more affluent areas would agree. Furthermore it shows the areas to be under-policed and councils not fulfilling their own duties on crime and disorder. Yet Croydon is crying out for more landlords attending shows to trying to get more landlords to let to their tenants! This is all about money grab when councils try full borough licensing. HMO’s come under licensing in any event. So potential landlords consider avoiding such areas as you will have any margins cut.
Will , good point. Never heard a property investment proposition mention licensing when punting “Invest in Croydon”.
Mark, Thanks for your observation.
Licensing is a waste of time and just another money spinner. The laws exist already to clamp down on “rogue landlords”, but the local authorities either choose to do nothing. Many simple and easy to monitor practices in lettings and sales are ignored..
But hey if you want to find another way to drive landlords away from the sector…you keep cracking on.