Council inspects 500 PRS homes – and finds 2,000 issues

Council inspects 500 PRS homes – and finds 2,000 issues

0:06 AM, 13th November 2024, About 3 weeks ago 18

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A council that launched its selective licensing scheme for private rented sector homes in March claims to have inspected 500 properties since – and found 2,000 issues.

It says it is now big strides in improving PRS housing standards.

Peterborough City Council says that despite initial landlord reservations, more than 7,000 licence applications have been received.

The selective licensing scheme involves inspections of licensed properties, and the council says it has uncovered issues of severe damp, mould, faulty and missing smoke detectors.

Inspectors also found inadequate ventilation in kitchens and bathrooms, the absence of window restrictors, and damaged ceiling and wall plaster.

Selective licensing scheme

Peterborough’s cabinet member for housing and communities, Councillor Alison Jones, said: “I’m delighted that the selective licensing scheme is continuing to make good progress and is already playing a key role in our aim of improving private rental housing in Peterborough, which in turn will help us create strong and sustainable communities.

“The fact that more than 2,000 issues have already been identified demonstrates that there was a clear need for selective licensing to be introduced.”

She adds: “I would like to thank those landlords who have joined the scheme and are working with us to improve standards.”

Improving housing standards

The council is working with a direct delivery partner called Home Safe and its scheme manager, Mike Brook, said: “We’re pleased with the impact the scheme is already having on improving housing standards.

“With over 500 inspections carried out on licensed properties, we are uncovering serious issues that could have otherwise gone unreported.

“By working closely with landlords to address these concerns, we’re now seeing noticeable improvements in the safety of many tenants’ homes.”

On track to issue all licences

The council says it is on track to issue all licences for valid applications by December.

It also says that to ensure compliance with safety and living standards, each licensed property will undergo two inspections over the five-year period of the licensing scheme.

The Selective Licensing team is now working with landlords to address the problems and improve living conditions for tenants in the affected properties.

The council is urging remaining landlords in the designated areas to apply for licences to avoid potential penalties of up to £30,000 or unlimited fines.


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Reluctant Landlord

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7:30 AM, 13th November 2024, About 3 weeks ago

I;d be very interested to see the actual numbers of enforcements that result because the LL was found 100% at fault....

Markella Mikkelsen

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9:15 AM, 13th November 2024, About 3 weeks ago

I chuckled when I read the phrase "despite initial reservations, more than 7,000 applications had been received." Woohoo.
I don't think any one rushed because of Landlord FOMO.
More like a gun pointing to your head,,,,,,,

Paul

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9:23 AM, 13th November 2024, About 3 weeks ago

And how many were council controlled ? Do as I say...

Dimitar Leshtarov

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9:51 AM, 13th November 2024, About 3 weeks ago

The Home Safe inspector came to my BTL. The inspection took about 30 minutes, and after minor remarks about fire alarms, the job was done. It is not as dramatic as the Council is trying to picture the situation.

Vibha Spal

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9:58 AM, 13th November 2024, About 3 weeks ago

Did they just target the private sector? What about the council properties or LHA properties? You will find more problems. I had a call from someone saying Housing Repairs asking if I have any damp or mould issues in my property. When I said no, they asked again if I was sure, as they are there to help. I said are you phoning around a lot of people to find out these issues, they put the phone down. I have saved the number. Next time they call, I shall say yes and see what happens. Just stated House Repairs. It was an 0330 number.

Reluctant Landlord

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10:19 AM, 13th November 2024, About 3 weeks ago

Reply to the comment left by Markella Mikkelsen at 13/11/2024 - 09:15
exactly what I thought. Landlords did not apply voluntarily but on threat of prosecution...

wonder if they have stats on the numbers of LL's they have prosecuted for not even having a licence yet considering the scheme has been in place (and so the requirement to have a licence) for a while now?

Simon M

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11:01 AM, 13th November 2024, About 3 weeks ago

The numbers are likely to be misleading. The figure probably includes cases where the tenants complained to the council - the inspectors went out, agreed the issue, and found the property had many more.

If I were the inspector, I'd visit the other properties the landlord owns expecting to find a similar number of faults. It would be easy to produce entirely unrepresentative statistics that could be used for whatever purpose.

A report on visits to random properties where there's been no complaint would be more representative.

TheMaluka

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11:04 AM, 13th November 2024, About 3 weeks ago

I wonder how many of these 2000 problems were category 1 hazards and how many come under the "curtain rail broken by the tenant" category? Statistics are wonderful, they can always be interpreted to your advantage.

Paul Essex

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11:35 AM, 13th November 2024, About 3 weeks ago

Missing window restrictor - is this something else they have just made up?

Tim Rogers

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11:47 AM, 13th November 2024, About 3 weeks ago

I can't help but do the math.

The license costs either £600 or £900 depending on when you get it, so let’s take an average of £700. There are 7000 licenses so a total of £4,900,000.
A visit averages 30 minutes, make that an hour for travel etc, so 6 visits in an average working day for a council officer. Let’s assume 4 days for inspections and 1 day in the office for paperwork, lets also assume 8 bank holidays and 4 weeks leave so 28 days not working. Now, lets be generous to the highly skilled council officers who do these inspections and pay them £50,000 pa plus expenses of £20,000, so £70,000 total

So, each officer does (52 weeks x 4 days) – 28 days = 180 inspection days a year
At 6 visits a day that’s 1080 visits a year and 5,400 in 5 years
They have a total of 7000 properties to be visited twice in 5 years, so 14,000 visits.
So to perform all these we need 3 inspection officers and probably 2 admin officers as back up
Add another inspection office to cover for revisits, sickness and possible expansion.
So 4 at £70,000 = £280,000
And 2 at £50,000 = £100,000
Total £380,000
Add £120,000 for contingency etc, equals £500,000 to run the whole scheme.

So where is the rest of the money, some £4,400,000 being squandered?

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