Demonstrating the cost of Landlord Licences?

Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 10/02/2022 - 08:52
"If you live in Nottingham City, access to certain services may be affected if you are not on the electoral register. It is a LEGAL REQUIREMENT to be on the electoral register."

What a nonsense.

Reply to the comment left by Luke P at 10/02/2022 - 10:12
I'd just got your first email Link asking to share which you've now got. Excuse me, I'm new to sharing Google Docs, I think I've just allowed it to share to anyone now.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sD_HRl57ANNw4PBAb-FGRU7h-0Qby9Vm5xLioH_nA7c/edit

What I'd like someone to do who has more time than me is to count how many pages we'd have to print to actually give the tenant ie.
Boiler certificate 1 page
EICR 5 pages Total 6 pages
Bin pack 10 pages Total 16 pages
And so on.

Reply to the comment left by Mike W at 07/02/2022 - 18:19
It is exactly that sort of behaviour that has led me to make moves to exit the industry, give up on complaining or trying to improve anything within government institutions (not just housing based either), become totally disinterested in politics entirely, want to drop out of society and move to another country.

I take my first steps this coming May.

Our appointed administrators of the country, at whatever level, will never ever ever improve. They've no intention and no incentive.

Reply to the comment left by Luke P at 10/02/2022 - 10:35
Spot on in every detail!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/buy-to-let/buy-to-let-landlords-face-750-bills-government-licensing-plans/

Reply to the comment left by Luke P at 10/02/2022 - 11:28
Quite right too. Why should local councils have a monopoly on ripping off landlords and attacking tenants?
The great thing about chaos is: It's fair.

Reply to the comment left by Luke P at 10/02/2022 - 11:28
That Telegraph article Luke, us paupers don't pay for it. What's it telling us? Not another 750 new rules to abide by is it?
Or a fee we got to pay of £750 per house?

Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 10/02/2022 - 18:58
Buy-to-let landlords face £750 bills under Government licensing plans
Existing schemes cost millions for local authorities to run
By
Melissa Lawford
10 February 2022 • 6:00am

Landlords face paying an extra £750 in licensing charges under plans to overhaul the buy-to-let sector.

Government proposals to hold all private rental sector properties to the Decent Homes Standard and introduce a new landlord register, announced in housing secretary Michael Gove’s "Levelling Up" white paper, will bring new costs for landlords who must prove homes are up to scratch, experts have warned.

While officials have yet to decide how this policy will be implemented, analysts said existing licensing schemes run by individual local authorities offered the Government a blueprint. However, adopting these schemes would likely result in large bills for landlords.

Newham Council in east London was the first local authority to launch a selective, large-scale licensing scheme for the private rental properties in 2013. Its second scheme began in 2018 and will run until the end of 2023. Landlords must pay a fee of £750 (or £450 if they signed up early) for a licence that lasts for the five year period.

The Government has already been warned that existing structures may not be able to cope with the number of additional homes needing to be assessed.

England's four million social housing properties are already measured to ensure they meet the Decent Homes Standard, which ensures properties meet a minimum benchmark. This is regulated by local authorities.

If all private rental sector properties were to be held to this standard as planned, the capacity of the existing infrastructure would need to suddenly expand to encompass an additional 4.4m homes.

Chris Norris, of the National Residential Landlords Association, a trade body, said: “In many London boroughs, 50pc of the housing supply is in the private rental sector, that is tens of thousands of properties. There’s an average of just two environmental health inspectors per local authority in England. They do not have the capacity at all. There would have to be enormous upscaling.”

At least 55 councils across England and Wales have existing licensing schemes that go beyond the requirements for houses in multiple occupation, according to the Local Government Association, the local authority body.

But the majority of councils focus only on social housing, and the existing infrastructure to make sure these properties meet the Decent Homes Standard varies significantly. Some councils aim to conduct sample inspections annually, others have come under criticism for conducting assessments less frequently.

It would be impossible to scale up the existing infrastructure without massive investment, said Mr Norris.

In Newham, the local authority has so far licensed just over 40,000 properties, or two thirds of the private rental sector properties in the borough.

The programme is entirely funded by the fees charged to landlords, which will raise the necessary £20m over the five-year period. This money is ring-fenced and is used to employ a team of 70 dedicated officers who manage around 2,000 inquiries and complaints a month, issue licences and conduct inspections. The model has been used as a blueprint for similar systems in other councils across north east London, such as in the London Borough of Havering.

Helen Masterston, of Newham Council, said: “It has taken us eight years to hone this. It is very resource intensive and any national scheme must recognise that.”

A Government spokesman said the Levelling Up white paper would work to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030.

He said: "We are considering the detail of regulation and enforcement arrangements for the Decent Homes Standard in the private rented sector, and will work with the sector to ensure it can function as intended."

Reply to the comment left by Luke P at 10/02/2022 - 19:13
Wow,
Thanks for this info Luke.
They gonna' make even more unaffordable.

Newham homeless problem is massive. Is this cause of Licensing one has to surmise.

Or they could leave us alone like they used to, & if tenant wasn't happy, she'd just move on the Monday just like that-Up the road to cheaper better house. Cause Landlords would take a chance on anyone then & we din't have the homeless we have now.

The Govt Spokesman doesn't mention how the Benefit tenants would be able to afford these New Build Standards they require.

S63 HA 2004 monies raised on PRS licensing are supposed to be used only to manage the PRS within that councils area.
Most councils do not have a register which show all PRS property as reliant on landlords to register. The information cannot be gleaned from the Electoral Roll as so many renters,and even owner-occupiers do not register to vote.
I would bet money that Croydon Council is one council that have used the landlords licence fees they used to charge, legally night allowed to charge this anymore, on other Counci costs. But can one find out, no it's impossible even with the Freedom of Information Act.
Personally I be there should be no licence fees in the PRS.
Nor should landlords have to act as unpaid ABSO officers or unpaid immigration officers.
I have sold 2/3rds of my portfolio. Best thing I ever did and may benefit other landlords as councils will need to think long and hard about the way they treat landlords who house their unhouable.
I only rented to those in housing benefits and was told by Croydon Council that paying their landlord licence did not entitle me to help from them when
I had a tenant from hell. I pointed out to them this is not what their original documents stated and I would see them in court if they did not assist me. Funny but someone from their legal team was down in reception within 10 minutes! Not they did anything constructive.