Bristol City Council – The lights are on but no one’s home!

Bristol City Council – The lights are on but no one’s home!

10:56 AM, 9th October 2019, About 5 years ago 30

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I have just received an email from Bristol City Council regarding my recent license application for one of my HMOs and I also just paid them £1050.00 for the pleasure.

I list here the accompanying 37 conditions (yes really 37 of them) I have to follow. I really think whoever wrote these conditions has no experience of actually being a landlord.

For sure I’m putting up rents if I have to follow all these conditions. At first glance I can see all sorts of problems with at least 10 of them.

West of England – Bristol City Council’s
Houses in Multiple Occupation – Licence Conditions
Property (HMO): XX XXXX Road, Southville, Bristol, BS3 XXX
The licence holder and/or manager:

1. Must, if gas is supplied to the house, produce to the Council, annually, for their inspection a satisfactory gas safety certificate obtained in respect of the house within the last 12 months.
2. Must keep electrical appliances and furniture made available in the house in a safe condition and must supply to the Council, on demand a written declaration verifying the safety of the appliances and furniture.
3. Must supply to the occupiers of the house a written statement of the terms on which they occupy it.
4. Must request a reference for each new person wishing to occupy the house. The reference request should include questions about anti-social behaviour, acting in a non-tenant like manner and any problems in respect of non-payment of rent. References must be retained for a minimum of 6 months from the issuing of the licence and must supply to the Council on demand.
5. Must provide, on request from other landlords an honest, factual and accurate written reference relating to existing or past occupiers.
6. Must issue new tenants/occupiers with a tenancy/written agreement that include clauses that will allow the licence holder to take reasonable steps to tackle anti-social behaviour.
7. Must have facilities, such as a telephone number, email address or postal address, to receive and respond to initial complaints about the behaviour of tenants or their visitors.
8. Must take all reasonable steps to deal with anti-social behaviour perpetrated by occupiers and/or visitors to the property.
9. Must take all reasonable steps to ensure that the property is not used for illegal or immoral purposes.
10. Must complete the West of England Landlord Development Programme or otherwise have evidence of successfully completing equivalent training by a recognised landlord association on demand.
11. Must ensure that the property is inspected on a regular basis to assess if there is evidence of anti-social behaviour ; this should be at least quarterly, but more frequently if anti-social behaviour has been established.
12. Must take all reasonable steps to keep the exterior of the property free from graffiti and fly posters.
13. Must ensure that tenants have 24hrs direct access to all toilet, personal washing and cooking facilities and equipment.
14. Must ensure that there is no obligate sharing of bedrooms.
15. Must supply to the Council on demand the names of all occupants.
16. Must ensure that the West of England Code of Good Management Practice is to be complied with and a copy is to be permanently displayed so as to be visible to all tenants.
17. Must ensure any person involved in, or becoming involved in the management of the property after the licence date must be a fit and proper person and must supply the Council on demand with a completed declaration in respect of a fit and proper person’ form for each person.
18. Must notify the Council in writing of any change to the name, address or any other contact details (including email address) of the licence holder, manager or any other person involved in the management of the property, within 14 days of that change.
19. Must comply with the Bristol City Council ‘Room Size & Amenity Standards for Licensable HMOs’ and ‘Fire Safety Standards for Licensable HMOs’ documents. These documents may be updated during the term of the licence and it is the responsibility of the licence holder and/or manager to ensure that they are aware of, and are complying with the latest versions. The latest versions of these documents can be found at www.bristol.gov.uk/hmo.
20. Must ensure that the property is managed in such a way that it is maintained in good repair. Facilities and equipment must be kept in a safe condition and good working order. Worn or dangerous furniture or fittings must be replaced.
21. Must supply to the Council, where applicable, a current Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) on demand.
22. Must comply with the minimum level of energy efficiency for privately rented property required under The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property)(England and Wales) Regulations 2015. From April 2018, landlords of privately rented property in England or Wales must ensure that their properties reach at least an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of E before granting a new tenancy to new or existing tenants. From 1 April 2020 these requirements will then apply to all private rented properties, all subject to any exemptions from this regulations.
23. Must meet current statutory requirements for electrical installation and supply to the Council, on demand a current (less than 5 years old) electrical installation condition report. Any category 1 or 2 defects in a report must be rectified. On the expiry of a report, a new report must be obtained and supplied to the Council within 2 months of the previous report’s expiry date.
24. Must, where there is an existing fire alarm system, supply to the Council on demand a satisfactory certificate of inspection and testing as required under BS 5839-6: 2013.
25. Must ensure that a smoke alarm is installed on each storey of the house on which there is a room used wholly or partly as living accommodation and to keep any such alarm in proper working order.
26. Where there is a new tenancy these alarms must be checked on the day the tenancy begins and supply on demand a declaration of the condition and positioning of any such alarms.
27. Must ensure that a carbon monoxide alarm is installed in any room (includes a hall or landing) in the property which is used wholly or partly as living accommodation (includes bathroom or lavatory) and contains a solid fuel burning combustion appliance, and to keep any such alarm in proper working order. The alarms must be checked on the day the tenancy begins if it is a new tenancy and supply on demand a declaration of the condition and positioning of any such alarms.
Note – Solid fuel includes coal, wood, etc. A non-functioning, purely decorative fireplace would not constitute a solid fuel burning combustion appliance.
28. Must provide to the Council, on demand a declaration that the lighting system is in proper working order. Emergency lighting to be maintained in accordance with the relevant British Standard (BS5266: Part 1: 2005).
29. Must, where the LACoRS “Housing – Fire Safety, Guidance on fire safety provisions for certain types of existing housing” has been used to determine fire precautions, review the precautions annually or whenever there are alterations to the property or its contents or at changes of tenancy; to ensure the fire precautions are appropriate to the risk, written evidence of any review to be supplied on demand
30. Must provide written details of fire evacuation procedures to tenants/occupiers. Ensure that all tenants/occupiers are aware of fire and fault indications of the fire alarm system and are adequately familiar with controls (e.g. resetting). They must also be made aware of measures to avoid false alarms. These details must be supplied on demand.
31. Must, where food is provided, ensure food handlers have appropriate food safety training.
32. Must ensure that the layout of the property, including any numbering of rooms is not altered without first gaining written permission from the Council. Requests to alter the layout should be made in writing to Licensing Team, Private Housing, Bristol City Council and include a full description of the proposed changes.
33. Must ensure that the property is occupied in accordance with, and by no more than the number of persons and households specified in the licence.
34. Must, if the occupation of the property is in excess of the maximum permitted number, inform the Licensing Team, Private Housing, Bristol City Council in writing within 28 days of the over occupation occurring.
35. Must, if any proposed changes to the mode of occupation be submitted to the Licensing Team, Private Housing, Bristol City Council to determine if any changes to the conditions and the permitted number are needed.
36. Must provide suitable facilities for the storage and disposal of refuse and recycling in accordance with the Council’s waste and recycling collection requirements.
37. Must ensure that their name, address, any telephone contact number or email address are made available to each household and such details are clearly displayed in a prominent position in the property.

Bristol Landlord


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Comments

Mick Roberts

22:04 PM, 12th October 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Bristol Landlord at 12/10/2019 - 16:55
Combine that with UC making it impossible for Landlord to tell UC the most simplest explanation to solve a non paying claim.

UC tenants and those in Licensing areas, their choice is I'm gonna say gone down by 100%. I'm trying to think, I don't think I've had one tenant leave in the last 18 month's, being able to get another house.
Had one girl leave a few weeks ago to move back to Mums. Fella left her, no money etc.
The UC tenants, no Landlord is taking is taking them cause of UC and Licensing rules. The Govt and Councils have really let them down-Thinking they getting at the Landlord. The same Landlord that has done nothing wrong except slapped with some charges when he's already doing his best to not increase the rent the less paying UC tenant is already struggling with.

Rob Crawford

12:34 PM, 13th October 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Sjp at 12/10/2019 - 07:37
I will check but I don't think the requirement for section 10 is correct. My understanding was that this was only necessary to get a discount on the licence fee.

Bristol Landlord

17:03 PM, 13th October 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Rob Crawford at 13/10/2019 - 12:34
Rob, I have read the letter of 11/05/2018 from yourself to BCC on the subject of their proposed licensing scheme. I assume it’s not another Rob Crawford? It’s in the appendix of the linked report. You made very good points and I agree with all you wrote.
Did BCC ever give you a substantive point by point response to your letter?
If so could you post it here?
Looking at the raw data in the report it seems to me that BCC were very selective in what they used to justify the go ahead for licensing Central Bristol.
Their licensing scheme was maybe ok for the original pilot scheme in the rougher parts of the city but the Additional Licensing scheme for Central Bristol is unnecessary, was already decided due to political reasons and is nothing but a thinly veiled money grab with almost the highest fees in the country. It will do nothing but add an additional burden on landlords and increase rents for tenants.
Mick Roberts already said in a previous post that in Nottingham an LA inspection costs £77, so why wouldn’t it be about the same in Bristol?
What are they doing with the extra £1000 or so that I pay per license?
It also looks like many organisations were exempted from this scheme, including BCCs own properties, can you confirm?

https://bristol.citizenspace.com/communities/additional-licensing-scheme-for-hmo/results/consultationreport2018v5final.pdf

Michael Bond

18:52 PM, 13th October 2019, About 5 years ago

As has already been said many of these things are what we have to do anyway.
Surely the requirements about tenants' references and passing them to the council are contrary to Data Protection laws?
Most councils have an Anti-Social Behaviour department. They are the experts in the subject .Surely the first thing to do is to call them in to sort out any problem?
Liverpool CC impose similar conditions. They don't seem to take any notice of them, so nor do most other people.

Rob Crawford

22:18 PM, 13th October 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Bristol Landlord at 13/10/2019 - 17:03Hi Bristol Landlord, as you are aware I Chair ALL Wessex. Firstly I stand corrected section 10 is in the conditions and was also stated as a requirement within the consultation document. I completed the BCC multi choice development program some time ago (it's probably been undated now), it's cheaper than joining an accreditation LL Association. Yes we forwarded a fairly comprehensive objection to the additional licensing scheme. BCC are only required to make the Council Cabinet aware of any objections received - they don't need to respond. We meet regularly and most questions posed have been poorly answered with no substance. The BRE Housing Stock report in our mind does not provide actual data sufficient to substantiate the requirement to introduce additional licensing under the Housing Act 2004, fees to high and not justified etc etc. As with many of these proposals, most objections are received too late and after the consultation process has finished. http://www.allwessex.co.uk/bristol-city-wide-additional-licensing/

Bristol Landlord

22:53 PM, 13th October 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Michael Bond at 13/10/2019 - 18:52
I agree that many of these things are what we have to do now to get a license but my main concern is BCC want me to agree to these multiple conditions of which many I cannot legally do anything about, ie ASB of a tenant.
Why make them a condition if I’m not legally allowed to spy on my tenants, that’s up to the police, the courts and BCC to tackle. All I can do is try to filter out these kinds of tenant before they take possession of my house. Once they are in place it will take me a lot of time and money to get them out if they commit ASB.
Also your correct about Data Protection.
This is just an overpriced job creation scheme for Council lifers who don’t want to actually do the hard work of directly tackling the irresponsible landlords with yobbo tenants.

Rob Crawford

17:10 PM, 14th October 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Bristol Landlord at 13/10/2019 - 22:53
We did discuss this with BCC. Their expectations of the LL are that when made aware of ASB, the LL takes steps to address the issue, i.e. evidence of warning letters issued to the tenant etc. I know from experience that if the council receive a complaint about ASB from say a neighbour, the tenant is guilty and the LL will be expected to do something. The LL (due to GDPR) won't necessarily have access to the complainant's contact details or details of the complaint made. The Council won't investigate to establish facts before passing onto the LL. The correct procedure should be to advise the complainant to contact the police/environmental health so that evidence can be collected. Assuming this evidence supports the allegation then the LL can then rightfully take action.

Bristol Landlord

18:05 PM, 14th October 2019, About 5 years ago

The thing is that I have no POWER to do anything except talk to or send a letter to an ASB tenant asking them to behave.
Thats all I can do about that except to evict them and fully cooperate with the police and BCC. And as we all know, eviction is just about to get a lot more difficult. This is why I think BCC have the lights on but no ones home, they refuse to recognise the LL is almost powerless and it is BCC themselves, and the police, who actually have much more power than I, why wont they admit this?
Why blackmail an LL into signing certain "conditions" which they and I know very well I cannot legally meet? What concerns me with all these multiple ridiculous conditions is that any time they want they can completely shut down any LL who doesnt do exactly as they want. It wont be hard to find something out of 37 conditions which an LL has contravened, probably unknowingly, even if its something minor and a matter of opinion or interpretation. Or they can completely make something up and pull the license, then a LL has to go to court to try and get his license back by proving he didnt do anything wrong. Thats what Im most concerned about, the new power the LA now has to control the Bristol PRS and any LL. My previous dealings with BCC from many years ago have already shown me they are incompetent, unprofessional, untrustworthy and unscrupulous, ie typical government. They are so shortsighted and greedy they cant even see how they themselves are going to contribute to increased homelessness and make it way more difficult and expensive for tenants who can actually find a place to rent. One department of BCC will be raking in millions from these licenses and another department will equally be paying out millions to take care of rough sleepers and homeless individuals and families.
They didnt even take advice from your letter Rob as I notice you pointed out they could not ask for a gas safety certificate just for a gas supply. That condition 1 is still there.

Bristol Landlord

23:40 PM, 15th October 2019, About 5 years ago

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