Hackney Council proposes new licensing schemes despite past failures

A London council is pushing forward with a controversial new selective licensing scheme, despite previously continuing to process applications months after the original scheme had expired.

Hackney Council has proposed implementing a new selective licensing scheme in 17 council areas, which could affect more than 26,000 properties.

The council also plans to introduce an additional licensing scheme for HMOs, which could impact more than 5,000 properties.

According to London Property Licensing, the start of the licensing consultation is unclear but could be this summer, with plans to introduce the schemes as early as next year.

Hackney council error

Previously, Hackney Council failed to acknowledge an error on their website regarding the licensing scheme end date, which was incorrectly listed as 30 October 2023.

The council later admitted the schemes actually ended on 30 September 2023 but continued issuing licences until March 2024, six months after the schemes had officially ended.

London Property Licensing uncovered that by the time the schemes ended, there were 1,700 additional licence applications and 652 selective licence applications that had been received but not yet processed.

This information only came to light after London Property Licensing submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request last year.

The council took over five months to respond, even after the case was escalated to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a breach of Section 10 of the Freedom of Information Act. The requested information was finally disclosed in September last year.

These investigations revealed that Hackney Council had granted 1,697 additional licences, issued 649 selective licences, and refused six licence applications after both licensing schemes had officially ended.

Licensing scheme fee doubles

The cost of Hackney’s proposed licensing schemes has more than doubled since the previous scheme in 2018.

The fee for the earlier HMO licence was £950, but under the new scheme, it has jumped to £1,400.

Meanwhile, the cost of the selective licensing scheme has risen from £750 to £950, an increase of more than 23%.