Feb

LATEST: Landlord wins review of selective licensing scheme for ‘value for money’

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External auditors are to investigate selective licensing in Nottingham following a complaint about whether it provides value for money.

One of the city’s landlords has made a formal objection about the scheme which charges them up to £890 every five years for each rental property. John Gregory, from auditor Grant Thornton, spoke to councillors at the last audit committee about the issues raised, reports Notts TV.

He said: “It concerns the value for money of the scheme and the way it was managed. How much it costs. How much it has brought in terms of fees paid by the landlords. Basically, whether it was a worthwhile exercise.”

Giles Inman (pictured), business development manager at landlord group EMPO, tells LandlordZONE that it supports the landlord’s challenge as there are no effective measures to property regulate the scheme.

“Other councils inspect properties prior to a licence being issued and afterwards, while Nottingham just say they’ll attempt to inspect 50% of the properties in the five-year period,” he explains.

“How can the council properly regulate it if they’re not doing those inspections? This should be about safeguarding and protecting tenants.”

Set up in August 2018, the scheme covers about 26,000 properties and comes to an end in July 2023. Nottingham Council is set to approach the government to apply for a renewal in October.

EMPO says it will consider forming a committee to draft a submission against the renewal once it has had a chance to look at the council’s own study into the scheme’s success.

Councillor Jane Lakey told the recent meeting that she wanted to know whether it was an efficient, well-run scheme before making a decision. She added: “On a wider context, I have actually looked for reports on the effectiveness of selective licensing and I am yet to find one.”

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