Demonstrating the cost of Landlord Licences?

Demonstrating the cost of Landlord Licences?

9:46 AM, 7th February 2022, About 2 years ago 24

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My understanding is that the cost of the Licences that Councils are issuing, (HMO’s, Selective Licenses etc) are supposed to be based on the cost of operating them.

I have not seen any Council offer any cost breakdowns.

Does anyone know if they are required to do so?

Are Councils also required to show who has and has not paid their Licences?

Many thanks

Stewart


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Comments

Jessie Jones

10:43 AM, 12th February 2022, About 2 years ago

The fees raised by Licensing have to be ringfenced and only spent on relevant activities, such as inspections, enforcement and admin.

In reality, part of the money is used for other activities. A FOI request revealed that the Nottingham Scheme were using the money to 'sponsor' other events which they justified by saying that they were raising awareness of the scheme amongst the community.
Also the staff are based in council buildings, have access to vehicles, IT infrastructure, management, HR services, finance depts, and the like. The costs of the staff aren't just their pay. It also includes lucrative pension schemes, generous sick pay, training in rubbish such as manual handling, working at height, first aid in the workplace, Microsoft Word for dummies, Critical Race Theory.
Part of the fee disappears into the greater Council black hole and we will never find out how much. An audit of Nottingham City Council recently discovered that £15m of 'ringfenced' money which was supposed to be spent on social housing had in fact been used for general expenditure, and now the Council are having to pay it back.
So the 'costs of operating them' as your enquiry asks, is a very loose term and the fee is wholly disproportionate to any benefits the scheme provides to tenants.

Reluctant Landlord

11:03 AM, 12th February 2022, About 2 years ago

so just how do Councils determine if a house is actually privately rented or not?

If the tenant is paid by HB then I guess a check with that department will show this up, but what about tenants or LL paid directly by the DWP? As far as I know there is not interrelation here?

Jessie Jones

11:26 AM, 12th February 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by DSR at 12/02/2022 - 11:03
You are correct, there is no absolute way that Councils can know exactly which properties are privately rented.

But tenants circumstances can change. An employed tenant can suddenly start claiming benefits, and the Council does seem to have access to that information.
Additionally, there are firms advertising on the internet and social media that they can help recover money for a tenant from a landlord, if they have failed to obtain a licence. A tenant who is looking to find enough money for a deposit on their own home would be able to negotiate a very large 'bung' from a landlord to prevent them for squealing to the Council.

There will be some landlords who take the high risk approach of not getting a licence. And then there are the majority of landlords who obtain a licence and increase the rent to recover the costs.

Increasing the rent following a requirement to have a licence is not difficult, as most other landlords have to do the same. In Nottingham rents rose quicker than anywhere else in the country when the license was introduced.

Mick Roberts

11:52 AM, 12th February 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by DSR at 12/02/2022 - 11:03
In Nottingham,

They been knocking on the doors of unlicensed properties. It seems they can't even access Council Tax records or Housing Benefit records cause of data protection.

As Jessie says, rents have shot up in Nottingham, approx 40% from Aug 2018 when Licensing was introduced to 2021. If u got a Benefit tenant in Nottingham, they can never leave u any more once another Landlord sees Licensing conditions, they won't take 'em.

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

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