Landlords blast selective licensing scheme as anger grows after first year

Angry landlords have hit out at their town’s selective licensing scheme, a year after it was introduced.

They accuse the council of creating higher rents, driving evictions and worsening local housing pressures, Teesside Live reports.

The five-year scheme, covering central Stockton, north Thornaby and Newtown, has issued more than 1,400 licences since its launch.

Landlord opposition was clear long before the rollout, with only 3% backing the plans in the council’s 2024 consultation.

Now, a one-year update on the scheme at a Safer Stockton Partnership meeting led councillors to praise the scheme’s impact.

Dick Turpin wore a mask

One landlord argued the policy completely misunderstands the realities of the sector, saying “we are not babysitters and cannot control how tenants conduct their lives”.

Another warned they would “just sell my properties” in response.

Several landlords say the scheme has backfired, with one calling it an “own goal” and an “exercise in futility”.

Others were even more blunt with a landlord saying: “Selective licensing is just a cash cow for the council. At least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask.”

Stockton’s licensing scheme criticised

Other landlords have highlighted how the scheme has caused “real and lasting harm to the community”.

One said: “Lots of tenants have been evicted because of the new schemes. Well done Stockton Council! Another self-induced own goal.”

Some argue tenants are the ones paying the price with rents going up to pay the license fee.

Another landlord said: “The licensing scheme is a joke. Total waste of time. The scheme is a disgrace. Four years to go, then it will end, thank God.”

Landlords are selling up

Frustrated landlords also highlighted the scheme’s impact with one stating: “Landlords are selling up and evicting tenants. We now have more ‘low housing demand’ in the area than before, but that was why the council brought the scheme out, saying they would solve it.”

However, it’s not just landlords who are unimpressed; tenants aren’t too.

One reportedly said he is “fed up of getting knocks at the door” from officers.

He added: “They think they are helping us tenants. Well, I have a message to them, ‘no you aren’t, leave me in peace, I don’t want you round and you’re not coming in.'”

He also criticised the language used around inspections, saying officials should “show greater respect.”

Council praises licensing

The council insists the licensing scheme is delivering what it set out to do.

Councillor Richard Eglington, cabinet member for regeneration and housing, told the news site: “Before the implementation of selective licensing in central Stockton, north Thornaby and Newtown, the council consulted extensively with landlords, managing agents and those living in the proposed selective licensing areas to seek views on the proposals.”

He added that ‘all feedback’ was considered before its introduction and he insists that the scheme is working by improving the condition and management of private sector housing, with ‘positive outcomes’ for landlords and tenants.