There is a high resentment from Landlords over councils' schemes to impose licensing on all private landlords.

One such council proposing to bring in the ‘additional and selective licensing’ scheme is Enfield and they are looking to charge a cost of £575 per private landlord, for their properties for five years.

A private landlord who owns rents and several properties within the borough, Graham Roberts, is angry as he feels that the proposed "levy" should be imposed on those landlords that flagrantly disregard the law and not those who act responsibly.

He said: “The general feeling I gauged from the consultation is one of dismay and anger. This licensing is stigmatising all landlords and that is unacceptable. It feels like the council is in a race to be the second council to implement this behind Newham.”

In order to lease their properties, landlords will need to show reference from tenants and provide all of their health and safety certificates.

Cabinet member for housing, Ahmet Oykener said that the process is still in its early stages. He said: “We are still consulting with landlords before finalising anything and will take their views into consideration. This is designed to prevent antisocial behaviour amongst tenants and crack down on rogue landlords.

 “This is not an extra-ordinary change and it will charge landlords over five years. If they sign up early they can get a discount. This is not trying to make money for the council but being able to enforce standards easier such as health and safety.”

Graham Roberts understands one of the scheme's aims is to stamp out anti-social behaviour from tenants but asks, why is it the landlord's sole responsibility ?

He said: “There is no correlation between anti-social behaviour and landlords. For failing to sign up there is a possibility you could be hit with a £20,000 fine which is utterly ridiculous.

“It is not just about the money, there will be an absolute jungle of paperwork to have to fill in which will take up copious amounts of time and no doubt more people will have to be employed to look through all the forms which will cost more money.

“If the council is willing to engage with landlords to make this project work then that is fine but there are not many landlords that agree with the current proposition.”

The scheme's period of consultation has now finished .