3rd
Sep 2021
Back in June upon Croydon Council’s proposed new licence scheme being slammed and refused by the government, the authority has been ‘beavering away’ to find options in replacing its ill-fated scheme by October 1st.
Three months ago Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick was highly critical of the council’s intended licensing regime which was instantly dismissed, the reason was that the authority had failed to provide the necessary information to back up their proposal of having a structed housing strategy.
As reported by the Inside Croydon website saying that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and its civil servants team were “devastating in their critique of Croydon’s renewal submission.”
According to the authority the government’s refusal has left it with a £22m ‘black hole’ as it had forecasted this amount would been received from the new landlord licensing fees gaining approval.
Croydon council has just released a statement on the best way forward following its re-think:
Croydon councillor Patricia Hay-Justice, cabinet member for homes states:
“Our landlord licensing scheme allowed us to carry out much-needed proactive work – including successful prosecutions – to protect tenants and make our borough a better place to rent.
“Nearly one third of all Croydon homes are in the private-rented sector, so the need for us to continue supporting their tenants hasn’t gone away just because our renewal application was turned down.
“So later this year we will review our options on the best way forward, and if this results in any significant proposed changes we would consult residents and landlords before making a decision.”
During 2015 to 2020, the authority ran a borough-wide selective licensing scheme for the 38,500 PRS properties.
The council states that the selective licensing scheme “resolved thousands of incidents with landlords without needing further action, served over 1,000 enforcement notices and banned over 75 offending landlords from holding a licence.”
During the five years the council took over twenty cases to court against landlords for the most severe offences endangering their tenants.
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