7th
Aug 2016
North Somerset Council is being taken to court by angry landlords at its new licensing scheme. The licences are for areas of Weston's town centre and will cost £320 for five years, once again a council ‘aims to improve standards’ in private rented accommodation.
Part of the licensing terms is that standards are set for the properties that landlords must meet or they will be taken to court and the property will become managed by the council.
A local newspaper found out that 52 landlords met up in July with the intention of forming a campaign group against the licensing scheme.
A few days ago the group, The Somerset Property Network Group, had its first meeting and more than 80 BTL investors attended.
The council declined to attend the meeting because of legal issues around the threat of a judicial review.
A network spokesperson said: “Everyone agreed they didn’t want to sit back and take this decision by North Somerset Council.
“We have all agreed to put money into a pot to take this judicial review forward.”
The council stated that: “We have not received a letter regarding any claim or legal challenge to the council’s decision to introduce a licensing scheme in Weston.”
At the meeting it was unanimously agreed that the landlords were more than willing to work with the council to kick out rogue landlords, however it was felt that communication levels between the council and landlords were extremely low.
A network spokesperson said: “We got more people to attend this meeting than the council even told about this scheme.
“In the consultation period, they didn’t reach the people they should have reached.
“This isn’t the landlords versus the council. We want to work with them.
“It is a really ignorant and stupid thing for them to do – to refuse to work with us. We want to stop rogue landlords.
“We are saying ‘let’s fight rogue landlords together’. We want the council to stop alienating landlords. It was a really positive and brilliant meeting.
“We were sad the council chose not to come along; it wasn’t a witch hunt, and we just wanted to look at it sensibly.”
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