Wirral Selective Licensing refund requested and refused!

Wirral Selective Licensing refund requested and refused!

10:28 AM, 23rd February 2017, About 7 years ago 4

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I managed a block of 15 apartments in Wirral which fell into one of the designated selective licensing areas.wirral

Although we had this block up for sale at the time we were advised by the selective licensing department that we would still need to pay in full for the five year license at around £450.00 per property.

All of the properties were 5 star accredited with Wirral council. 6 Months later we sold the block to a company who were going to convert it to cater for assisted living and then sell it on again to a care company.

The works were due to take around 6 months and although the block would be empty for this period they were told that they too would require a 5 year license. As its a company I have worked with before I agreed to continue being the license holder. Works have now been completed and handover takes place next week. At this point the new owners will have to apply for another license.

I requested a refund for the four years which I have overpaid and was refused.

It seems crazy to me that there could potentially have been three full licenses to be paid on these properties within 12 months all covering virtually the same time period.

Has anybody else come across this?

Chris


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Comments

Luke P

11:47 AM, 23rd February 2017, About 7 years ago

Larry Sweeney might be the man to talk to and no doubt will be along shortly to comment.

Larry Sweeney

22:09 PM, 23rd February 2017, About 7 years ago

Chris,
This is exactly why the useless local authorities love the selective licensing scam.
Unfortunately the Housing act itself states that licences are non transferable. That said however the schemes themselves as introduced by Councils up and down the land state that their fees are for 5 year Licences. The new owner therefore should appeal to the RPT on the basis that they will not be obtaining a full 5 yr licence therefore should have a pro rata fee reduction. This also brings me to a second point Chris. When you received your Licences did the drafts contain a start as well as a finish date. The reason I ask is that Liverpool have clandestinely operated a two tier scheme ,with some applicants receiving copy licences clearly showing start dates while thousands more received flawed documents with the dates omitted. In your situation, your purchaser would need to know as per the draft the inception date of their licence otherwise they Licences could overlap. You cannot appeal to the RPT but you could take a case in the county court seeking a refund. This would be probably the first case of its kind , and every landlord in the Country would cheer you .

Chris Wiggins

15:17 PM, 24th February 2017, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Larry Sweeney" at "23/02/2017 - 22:09":

HI Larry
Yes they all have decision dates such as 22nd December 2015 then varying start dates throughout Jan 2016 and an end date of 30th June 2020.

Mick Roberts

10:53 AM, 4th July 2018, About 6 years ago

Can you Landlords please sign this & forward to all your contacts.
A small hope, we have to try anything & everything.
I'm sure we not get 10k signatures, but the more Licensing & Govt start to see these things, who knows.
“Petition calling for a review of Nottingham City Councils Selective Licensing."
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/223039

http://www.selectivelicensingtruth.co.uk/

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