Jan

Waltham Forest wins green light for another five years of Select Licensing

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Landlords in the area will once more have to pay a registration fee of £650 per property if it’s within 18 of the borough’s 20 wards.

Private landlords in Waltham Forest face
selective licencing regulation until 2025 after its council gained government approval
to renew its selective licensing scheme.

This means they will have
once more register their property and pay a
registration fee every five years from May 1^st onwards.

With more
than a third of residents in the area renting privately and with over 8,000
rented homes containing ‘significant hazards’, the council hopes licensing will
also help it to deal with landlords who exploit vulnerable tenants by letting
out overcrowded, unsuitable, and dangerous properties.

The current
selective licencing scheme, which has been running since 2015, incensed many
landlords when it raised its registration free from £500 to £650 in 2016 making
it, at the time, one of the most expensive in the UK.

Councillor
Louise Mitchell, Cabinet Member for Housing and Homelessness Prevention, says: “Our
message to these rogue landlords is clear: If you want to rent property out in
Waltham Forest, your property must meet the licensing scheme’s standards and
you must ensure that your tenants are safe. If you don’t, we will find out and
take action against you.”

The selective licensing
scheme ensures landlords meet licence conditions such as taking fire safety precautions,
ensuring properties aren’t dangerous and that they are properly managed. The
licence also makes landlords responsible for dealing with anti-social behaviour
quickly, with fines of up to £30,000 for failing to
comply.

Since the select licensing began, Waltham Forest Council has issued more than 27,000 property licences, 149 civil penalties, 50 interim management orders.

It has
also improved 3,100 privately rented properties and pursued 94 successful
prosecutions. Its new selective licensing scheme will cover 18 out of 20 wards
(excluding Hatch Lane and Endlebury) and starts on 1 May 2020.

Other local councils have been less successful in
winning government approval, as this week Liverpool City Council’s plans to continue its private landlord licensing scheme for
another five years were rejected.

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