Council to extend its HMO licensing scheme

Council to extend its HMO licensing scheme

9:27 AM, 27th August 2024, About a month ago 2

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A council looks set to extend its additional licensing scheme for five more years until 2030.

The scheme, which grants the council additional powers to regulate HMOs, follows a consultation earlier this year that found both tenants – and apparently – landlords support the tougher measures.

Coventry City Council says its scheme, which was brought in in 2020, will tackle bad management, anti-social behaviour and poor property conditions.

It also aims to improve standards for tenants living in HMOs and reduce any negative impact on local communities.

‘This is about helping landlords’

The council’s cabinet member for housing and communities, Councillor David Welsh, said: “Local people I talk to have strong feelings about the impact and standard of HMOs in neighbourhoods throughout the city.

“That is why we have an additional licensing scheme, and we try to work with landlords to raise standards.

“This is about helping landlords, protecting tenants and taking action on behalf of communities.”

He added: “I want to stress that there are lots of good quality landlords running HMOs in Coventry and this scheme recognises those landlords as well as identifying those who need to make improvements.”

Good work done by landlords

Mr Welsh went on to say that a lot of ‘good work’ has been done by landlords over the past four years – and extending the scheme will enable the council ‘to be more proactive’ and ‘challenge bad landlords’.

He adds: “It is estimated that Coventry has the 14th highest number of HMOs in England and Wales.

“A report published by the National Residential Landlords Association found that between 2021 and 2023, Coventry City Council was the top ranked authority for HMO related civil penalties (193) and third for issuing civil penalties in all private sector rented properties (207).

“We look forward to continuing our work to improve the city’s housing and ensuring rented properties are safe and happy homes for tenants and do not have a negative impact on neighbours and communities.”


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Reluctant Landlord

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11:18 AM, 27th August 2024, About a month ago

“This is about helping landlords, protecting tenants and taking action on behalf of communities.”

Nope.

It's about passing the buck (and the cost) for the issues associated with crime and ASBO that the Council should already be dealing with, especially if they are the ones granted HMO licences in the first place.
Bad Housing? The council already have powers to enforce and prosecute - the fines themselves self funding the exercise.

Amjid Ali

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8:47 AM, 29th August 2024, About a month ago

I tried to report a rouge estate agent who had 200 properties all being mid managed, they weren't interested in the slightest.

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