New landlord licensing plan a costly waste of time and money

Local authorities will soon find it easier than ever to introduce selective licensing schemes, following a Government announcement this week.

As of 23 December - next Monday - councils will no longer need to seek the consent of the Secretary of State for Housing to create a licensing scheme of any size. This latest announcement follows the publication of the Renters' Rights Bill earlier this year, which pleged to establish a national database of private landlords and tenants.

Today's news has wide-randing implications for private landlords across the market, with the NRLA claiming the Government risks turning landlords into little more than cash cows.

Chris Norris, Policy Director for the National Residential Landlords Association said: "It makes no sense that whilst planning to create a national database of private landlords, the Government now wants to make it easier for councils to license landlords as well. Ministers must clarify how they plan to prevent the two schemes from duplicating each other. A failure to do so risks them becoming nothing more than cash cows.

“The Government’s plans will remove important safeguards against misuse of council licensing powers. It absolves ministers of any responsibility and will give local authorities free rein to blanket entire towns with unnecessary and costly schemes.

“Data from 2021 to 2023 shows that seven of the top ten most proactive councils issuing improvement notices to private sector landlords did not have selective licensing schemes in place. This clearly demonstrates that licensing schemes do not automatically lead to higher levels of enforcement by councils.”