Selective Licensing of Landlords

[claytonender]

Selective Licensing of Landlords is to be introduced to some areas of the borough in October 2010. The area it will apply too is all Church and Peel wards and parts of Milnshaw, Central, Huncoat and Barnfield wards. Over the last 10 days, Labour councillors their relatives and friends have delivered a leaflet explaining about the scheme (and showing a map of the area) - which will be the largest in England. Unless landlords have a license they will not be allowed to rent out properties.


If you want to know more -please send me a PM and I will send you more details. There was a report to the cabinet of Hyndburn Borough Council on 3 March 2010 - there is a link to the report below.

http://www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/downloa...ndlords_1_.pdf

The conditions for landlords are included in the report but I am also adding them below -
Selective Licensing of Private Residential Landlords
Licensing Conditions

Mandatory Conditions

1. The annual inspection by the Council of an up-to-date gas safety certificate

2. A declaration that all electrical appliances and furniture provided is safe

3. The installation and maintenance in proper working order of smoke alarms

4. The provision to the occupiers of written statement of the terms upon which they occupy i.e. an appropriate Tenancy Agreement

5. The licence holder is required to obtain references for people wishing to occupy the house

Additional Hyndburn Borough Council Conditions

6. That all properties to be free of category 1 hazards

7. That an Energy performance Certificate has been prepared for the property within the last five years

8. That to provide proof of the mandatory condition mentioned in 2 above, a appropriate electrical test certificate be provided at least once in every five years

9. Where there are gas appliances in the property, that a suitable Carbon monoxide detector be provided

10. That the licence holder reminds occupiers of their responsibilities as regards the storage of refuse on the property

11. That the licence holder does not knowingly allow the property to be overcrowded

12. That at change of tenancy the dwelling be in a clean and tidy condition with reasonable levels of decoration

13. That licensed properties which are vacant be kept secure and free of accumulations of refuse


14. That all applicants for a licence be either members of the Hyndburn Accredited Landlord Scheme, or categorised as ‘seeking accreditation’

15. That the licence holder and the property manager be required to provide a contact point for the Council, so that problems with vacant properties can be swiftly addressed

16. That the licence holder takes all possible actions to remove occupiers were there is evidenced criminal activity or anti-social behaviour

17. That where the Council has incurred expenses as a result of having to make a Final Management Order with regard to the premises, which have not been recovered by the rent paid during the duration of the Order, then the payment of that debt be a licence condition

[steeljack]

Why is there no requirement for the renter to have some sort of insurance to cover the costs of damage/repairs caused by the negligence of the tenant or guests, e.g. chip pan fires following a drunken night out or electrical fires caused by the illicit growing of drugs .

Thanks

[cashman]

Would imagine that would be their own responsibilty Steely? would be pretty dumb of n owner not to have?

[steeljack]

Originally Posted by cashman

Would imagine that would be their own responsibilty Steely? would be pretty dumb of n owner not to have?

Yep, agree the owner would have insurance to cover the building, but should he/she also have to be responsible for repairing misuse. kicked in doors or broken windows

[cashman]

Originally Posted by steeljack

Yep, agree the owner would have insurance to cover the building, but should he/she also have to be responsible for repairing misuse. kicked in doors or broken windows

Not in my eyes, would be very hard to enforce though, theres loads of "Moonlighters"

[cmonstanley]

this is what they have up here already lets hope they add criminal convictions to it and implement the laws..all hail death to the slum landlord..

[Less]

Originally Posted by cmonstanley

this is what they have up here already lets hope they add criminal convictions to it and implement the laws..all hail death to the slum landlord..

Wrong, you see you have let your emotions control your brain,

Let the punishment fit the crime

in this case the punishment should be to live in the dwelling themselves with no chance of parole.

[Ken Moss]

This is long overdue and a positive move. I hope it's rolled out across a far wider area in the very near future.

[DaveinGermany]

I don't know, affordable housing is apparently difficult to come by as it is in UK so we're led to believe, won't this just inflame the problem ? If the Landlords/property leasers have to pay 500 Quid every five years (for renewal, or am I reading it wrong ?) It's not hard to guess where they'll be getting their money back from is it !

Added to that because they're Council authorised this appears to be "Carte Blanche" for the underhanded ones to demand ridiculous rents as the people looking to rent have nowhere else to turn to for housing, as only Landlords with the required paperwork (from the Council) are available to prospective Tenants.

It appears to be a fly by night grab a quick "Buck" enterprise to me! All the safety aspects are good but who's paying & who's gaining from the checks will they be independents local firms or Council subsidiaries/sponsored ? I'm sorry but it seems as though the Council are trying to fill their Coffers via officialdom. Remember I'm an outsider looking in & that's how it looks from here.

[steeljack]

Originally Posted by DaveinGermany

I don't know, affordable housing is apparently difficult to come by as it is in UK so we're led to believe, won't this just inflame the problem ? If the Landlords/property leasers have to pay 500 Quid every five years (for renewal, or am I reading it wrong ?) It's not hard to guess where they'll be getting their money back from is it !

Added to that because they're Council authorised this appears to be "Carte Blanche" for the underhanded ones to demand ridiculous rents as the people looking to rent have nowhere else to turn to for housing, as only Landlords with the required paperwork (from the Council) are available to prospective Tenants.

It appears to be a fly by night grab a quick "Buck" enterprise to me! All the safety aspects are good but who's paying & who's gaining from the checks will they be independents local firms or Council subsidiaries/sponsored ? I'm sorry but it seems as though the Council are trying to fill their Coffers via officialdom. Remember I'm an outsider looking in & that's how it looks from here.

Good point there , seems this could backfire , seem to remember reading lots of stories about various London Borough Councils paying thousands of £s in rents to private landlords because that "is the going rate" for the area and no 'council' homes are available , does HBC have any contracts with private landlords to provide social housing .

[claytonender]

Originally Posted by DaveinGermany

I don't know, affordable housing is apparently difficult to come by as it is in UK so we're led to believe, won't this just inflame the problem ? If the Landlords/property leasers have to pay 500 Quid every five years (for renewal, or am I reading it wrong ?) It's not hard to guess where they'll be getting their money back from is it !

Added to that because they're Council authorised this appears to be "Carte Blanche" for the underhanded ones to demand ridiculous rents as the people looking to rent have nowhere else to turn to for housing, as only Landlords with the required paperwork (from the Council) are available to prospective Tenants.

It appears to be a fly by night grab a quick "Buck" enterprise to me! All the safety aspects are good but who's paying & who's gaining from the checks will they be independents local firms or Council subsidiaries/sponsored ? I'm sorry but it seems as though the Council are trying to fill their Coffers via officialdom. Remember I'm an outsider looking in & that's how it looks from here.

Dave I appreciate that you are an outsider looking in. In Hyndburn at the current time, there are approx 2000 empty properties and many properties that are rented out by private landlords that are not for purpose. As you can appreciate the landlords who are not concerned about looking after the buildings they own, has a very detrimental effect on anyone who is an owner occupier (or a landlord who does look after their property) in the area. In many areas of the borough houses prices have fallen because of the poor state the rented property is in (and the fact that some landlords couldn't care less about who the tenants are, provided they are getting their rent). A lot of tenants in private rented accommodation get all, or part of their rent paid by way of Housing Benefit and as I said before so long as thy are getting their rent the landlords are not bothered about the state their houses are in. Last year I was contacted by one of the residents of Church ward (who had ben made redundant), he was behind with his rent because his claim for Housing Benefit had not been sorted out. His landlord was threatening to enter the property, whilst he was out and change the locks - dumping his families belongings out in the street. Whilst this action would have been illegal it could quite easily have happened. The rent on this house was £100 per week, none of the gas fires (or the central heating was working) they had to use electric fires and an oil filled radiator and the roof was leaking. It is to try to eradicate landlords like this that the scheme is being implemented.
The scheme will be administered by HBC and will only cover the running costs. It certainly is not being implemented to 'grab a quick buck' it is making use of relatively new government legislation designed to combat the problems of bad landlords- many of whom bought houses at auction, never having been anywhere near the borough, but thinking they could rent them out and they would make a quick profit.

[mattylad]

Nice idea but I doubt it will work in practise, how are they going to know who all the landlords are in the first place & what can they do if they do not join in this (is it another "voluntary" scheme?) and what about all those landlords that the council cannot even contact now?
How are they going to contact them to get them to obey this missive?

The good landlords will follow this but the bad ones will shy away & have nowt to do with it.

And what law will require them to follow this?

Before you answer about the law, make sure it includes all the above requirements within the act or its worthless

[cmonstanley]

its better what weve got now and a step forward.i wonder if landlords who have been done with housing benefit fraud will get one.

[mani]

its very easy to put this onto the landlord to do this and that

but what happens to the tenant who wrecks a property? nothing. the landlord is left to take care of the bill themselves

what will happen to the dss claimaint who cant get a reference from previous places? no doubt they'll be the first to shout out discrimination!

and no offence but there's no chance in hell that they'll find landlords within that area let alone if it was rolled out to a bigger area.

16. That the licence holder takes all possible actions to remove occupiers were there is evidenced criminal activity or anti-social behaviour

a local landlord had anti-social tenants and went to the council regarding this. sorry its a civil matter which meant 3 months notice and even then they didnt leave.

[mani]

like there will be a good landlord register there should be a bad tenant register that a 3rd party can verify that the tenant has indeed been a bad tenant.