8th
Apr 2024
An industry company has been studying council PRS licensing schemes to find out if they had in fact improved private rental housing standards.
The firm says licensing schemes will actually duplicate some of the proposals in the Renters Reform Bill and impose further unwarranted expenses on landlords.
A spokesman for the firm, says: “Our findings reveal that 25% of local authorities in England, and 36% of local authorities in Wales, are enforcing Additional HMO and/or Selective Licensing schemes. These schemes are far from evenly distributed across regions, prompting the question as to why some regions have a significantly higher proportion of councils enforcing them.”
The supplier intends to hold an open roundtable to establish whether the over top priced schemes improve housing standards in the sector and landlords will be taking part.
He continues: “Our data analysis shows a lack of such schemes in regions with a relatively higher proportion of non-decent homes, and a higher proportion of such schemes in regions with some of the lowest proportions of non-decent homes.
“This begs the question as to the role of licensing in causing housing standards to improve. For example, is the relatively high housing standards in London due to a higher proportion of discretionary licensing schemes or because it has a substantial premium homes market?”
Further analysis found there are major inconsistencies in London councils’ costs of licensing schemes with some charging as much as 200 per cent more for the same type of licenses.
The firm states that some councils charge over the top costs for additional HMO or Selective licenses than other London councils charge for mandatory HMO Licenses and whether this difference in charges across the city asks whether there is any reason or justification and the cost-effectiveness for the wide ranging fees.
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