23rd
Aug 2021
Croydon council’s proposed new landlord licensing scheme was flatly rejected by the government is now pondering what new steps to introduce in wake of the decision.
Two months ago Robert Jenrick (Housing Secretary) told the authority it had not provided sufficient evidence as to how the proposed landlord licensing scheme would contribute to its housing plans.
An exclusive story was covered in June on the Inside Croydon website which stated the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s staff were “devastating in their critique of Croydon’s renewal submission.”
The council is claiming a £22m ‘black hole’ because of the rejection to its licensing proposal with the ‘loss’ of anticipated income from the new fees which will never be recovered.
The council is now going ‘cap in hand’ to private landlords when writing to them saying it is pondering on which steps to take next.
The letter says: “On the 20 July 2020 Croydon Council made an application to the government asking for confirmation of two licensing designations in the borough.
“On the 8 June 2021 the council heard that the government had refused the applications from Croydon.
“We are now considering the government’s response before deciding on any next steps in the months ahead.
“In the meantime we will be able to continue to investigate and act on local private tenants’ concerns by using Housing Act powers, but without the scale of proactive inspections and support that was made possible under our previous scheme.
“Mandatory houses in multiple occupation (properties occupied by five or more people in two or more households that share kitchen or bathroom facilities) are still required to be licensed.”
Richard PIMS says: “ It seems somewhat ‘strange’ that the authority claims loss of projected new income from landlords has caused a ‘black hole’ on a scheme that it hoped to introduced?
“ For once a landlord cash-cow scheme has been blocked by the powers that be.”
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