For those that have been following our updates on the PRS Selective Licensing situation in Nottingham, here is a short recap. In November, it was announced that Nottingham City Council were planning on introducing a selective licensing scheme to generate 22.6 million pounds of revenue from the Private Rental Sector. The scheme will require Landlords to own a licence to prove that they, and their properties meet a required standard.
Nottingham City Council’s aim for the scheme is to improve the standard of rental accommodation in Nottingham and reduce anti-social behaviour.
During this time we have tirelessly encouraged our Landlords and tenants to have their say on the City Council’s consultation page, as a way of objecting to the proposed scheme.
Latest Developments
Fast forward up until now. On Tuesday 18th July, in response to the consultation responses, there was another meeting to discuss the details of the scheme. It has now been decided that a citywide scheme should no longer be pursued and that the focus of the scheme should be on the areas which contain a high proportion of Private Rented Sector properties. The reason for this is because it was “felt to be more proportionate to the problems being experienced in Nottingham and will provide a targeted response which can be reviewed and assessed”.
Below are summarised points from the most recent progress meeting. In order for the scheme to go ahead, permission from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) must be granted. Submission to the DCLG will be at the end of July 2017 and it is expected that feedback will be received in October 2017.
Summarised Points
- It is expected that the Designation will now cover approximately 32.000 properties within the City. This is a reduction of roughly 3000 properties (9%) which are mainly in the north west of the City where there is significant presence of social housing estates. Proposed fees will be £655.00 for non-accredited and £400 for accredited landlords.
- The fee will be paid in two parts, where a licence application is refused, no refund shall be given. The second payment will be following the applicant being served with statutory notification of the intention to grant a licence. Payment of the 2nd fee will be a condition of the licence. No grace period will be given.
- Assuming that the Designation is confirmed the scheme will come into force on a date set by the Secretary of State and from that day landlords will be expected to comply. All Landlords will be required to apply through a Council online portal and submit all their required documents and fee via this portal. It is anticipated that licence documents and correspondence shall also be issued through this portal. 71 officers will be employed to govern the scheme The survey resulted in 1466 responses.
Director, Lloyd, of Belvoir Nottingham Central and Belvoir Nottingham West has rejected the idea ever since it was first proposed as an ill-advised and misrepresented resolution to an issue that was also severely misinterpreted back in November, and has attended many meetings to oppose the implementation of selective licensing. You can read about this here.
Above: A map showing in red, the areas expected to be affected by the licensing scheme. For a high resolution and zoomable copy please use this link here.
What are your thoughts about the scheme?
