Jan

LATEST: Big city to go live with controversial selective licensing plan

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Nottingham councillors have agreed to ask the government to approve the city’s new selective licensing scheme.

Proposals for its second scheme will cover a slightly smaller area in the city than the current scheme, but would include some new areas such as parts of Broxtowe and The Park. If it gets the go-ahead, the scheme could be implemented in August.

The council says it doesn’t believe landlords will need to increase tenants’ rent to cover the cost of a licence application, which would be payable in two parts.

It believes most landlords in the city who already have a licence would be aware of licensing, so a new licence should be factored into their business plan, while any previous increase in rents they may have made should cover a new licence fee.

Councillor Toby Neal (pictured), portfolio holder for housing and human resources, adds: “Many of the 45,000-plus privately rented properties in the city are well-managed but, as part of the first scheme we still find properties that are to a very poor standard.”

Surprising

But Giles Inman (pictured), business development manager at EMPO, questions why the council isn’t working with good landlords to seek less expensive measures to improve energy efficiency, tenant behaviour, property disrepair and standards.

He tells LandlordZONE: “It’s surprising they mention they don’t expect rents to increase because of more licensing and that many of the 44,000 properties in the city are well-managed. Why then consider a new large-scale and costly scheme?”

The landlord group has already warned that the introduction of another selective licensing scheme could create an exodus of landlords. It is working with property solicitor David Smith to submit an objection to the government.

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