A message from Lloyd Rumbold, Director of Belvoir Lettings for Nottingham Central & Nottingham West:
What’s happening?
On 22nd November 2016 Nottingham City Council announced their proposal to generate £22.6 million of revenue from the Private Rental Sector. They intend to achieve this by introducing a selective licencing scheme on private rented properties in Nottingham that would require Landlords to own a licence to prove that they, themselves and also their properties meet required standards. Ultimately, the proposal seeks to generate an additional income for Nottingham City Council of £3000 per property.
Details were disclosed in the Planning & Housing Agenda which was published on the 22nd November and is about to be lobbied.
How this affects Landlords in Nottingham
In essence, I totally agree with the aims of the scheme, which skirts around Nottingham City Council’s commitment to provide safe housing and also reduce crime and anti-social behaviour whilst also driving up standards of poor quality housing, which I fully support.
However, I am immersed in this sector both professionally and personally and have been for many years and what I see bears no correlation to any of the council’s evidence or proposed plans to generate revenue from the private rental sector.
A huge majority of the Private Rental Sector in Nottingham is made up of professionally managed tenancies. These properties are already heavily regulated and continuously monitored throughout their tenures. Character references are compiled, quarterly periodic inspections attended, Gas, Electrical & Legionella checks performed as well as properties risk assessed, all part and parcel of a landlord’s responsibilities for health and safety.
All of this plus much more is put into effect way before an occupant even sets foot through a front door and there is a whole host of reasons why this is beneficial to all parties. The Private Rental Sector is made up of investment properties in one form or another, whether they be purchased for yield or capital gains or to provide a solution to a temporary change in circumstance, all have a vested interest in the high standards of conditions maintained and the obligations of in which a tenant has to adhere to.
The bottom line
The sheer fact of the matter is that the mass majority and greatest contributor to the issues raised in this report is in mine and popular opinion with Nottingham City councils own Social housing stock, which has been openly documented as underfunded for many years, never routinely vetted or inspected and even widely renowned for the cause of the issues detailed in this report. However, and this is the crux of the matter, the funding to address such concerns needs to come from an exterior source. In this case, you and I.
Nottingham City Council do need to raise standards, and revenue is fundamental in that quest to address the issues raised in their report and these are of benefit to us all. However it is my opinion based on my knowledge and experience that it is totally unreasonable for Nottingham City council to generate funds from the Private Rental Sector to resolve their own housing crisis.
I am personally involved in a meeting on the 2 February 2017 regarding this issue. If you are interested to hear the results of that meeting and what it means for you, follow Belvoir Nottingham Central on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date.
Lloyd Rumbold, Director of Belvoir Lettings for Nottingham Central & West
