Landlord association challenges council’s selective licensing scheme

A landlord association is fighting back against a council’s proposed selective licensing scheme by threatening legal action.

The Eastern Landlords Association (ELA) has urged Great Yarmouth Council to withdraw its selective licensing scheme, which is set to come into force on 1 April, or delay its implementation by six months.

The ELA has given the council 14 days to respond to its pre-action protocol (PAP) letter, warning it will launch legal action.

The news comes after the Leeds Landlord Lobby Group launched a GoFundMe campaign to fund a judicial review of Leeds’ selective licensing scheme, which it calls ‘unlawful, disproportionate and damaging.

Example of a cash-strapped council trying to raise funds

ELA chair Paul Cunningham told Property118: “The ELA hopes this threat of action will bring an end to the proposed selective licensing in Great Yarmouth. To date, an awful lot of taxpayers’ money has been spent on this by the council, only for them to have it wrong.

“The scheme would make no difference to the housing stock in the borough with the majority of problems being with the council’s own properties.

“This is just an example of a cash-strapped council trying to raise funds, which would have resulted in increased rents for the tenants.”

The association has requested data and analysis on why alternative options to selective licensing were not considered.

As previously reported by Property118, the ELA claims the only data supporting the selective licensing scheme was withheld throughout the consultation period.

Good landlords have nothing to fear

When approached by Property118 for comment, the council did not respond regarding legal action, but has previously said they have complied with legislation and good landlords have nothing to fear from selective licensing.

A spokesperson for GYBC said previously: ‘’In preparing its proposals for a selective licensing scheme in Great Yarmouth, the council followed nationally recognised best practice with the aim of producing a scheme that will deliver significant improvements for the quality of life of thousands of people renting homes in the town by ensuring legal standards for safe homes are met. The public consultation the council carried out was transparent and very well participated in.

“The council considered the views of more than 275 respondents before producing its proposal. The consultation saw the council make a number of changes to the proposal, including reducing the cost to landlords. Selective licensing schemes already operate successfully across wide parts of the country and no one should lose sight of the fact that the only purpose of introducing a selective licensing scheme is to improve the quality of housing for people in our communities.

“Good landlords have nothing to fear from a selective licensing scheme, wherever they operate, and the council is confident its proposal meets all the necessary legal requirements for its introduction.’’