Your licensing update for May
Your licensing blog this month looks at current licensing consultations, including York, Wrexham and several London boroughs. Don’t forget, NRLA members can learn more about responding to licensing consultations in our licensing toolkit.
Current consultations
Members can learn more about responding to consultations in the toolkit, and you can learn about licensing in your area using the NRLA’s interactive Licensing 365 tool. The councils currently consulting on licensing are listed below.
Bristol: Selective and additional licensing (closes 26th May)
Bristol City Council has launched a consultation on plans to introduce licensing requirements to certain properties in Brislington West, Bedminster and Horfield. The council proposes to introduce both selective licensing and additional HMO licensing in certain areas of the city. Have your say on the plans.
Walsall Council-additional HMO licensing (closes 6th June)
Walsall Borough Council is currently consulting on proposals to introduce an additional HMO licensing scheme in the wards of Palfrey, St Matthews, Paddock and Pleck.
As part of these proposals, the council says the average licence will cost around £675 for a five-year period, and there will be both an ‘early bird’ discount and reduced fee for those landlords who are properly accredited. Read the proposals and respond to the consultation.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea – borough wide additional HMO licensing consultation (closes 20th June)
The council is proposing to introduce an additional HMO licensing scheme that, if approved, would apply to all HMOs in the borough that do not already fall into the scope of mandatory licensing.
Residents and landlords are invited to share their views on the plans in a survey which will run for twelve weeks. Take the survey here.
York - additional HMO licensing consultation (closes 27th June)
City of York Council is seeking views on a proposal to introduce an additional licensing scheme for HMOs in some areas of the city.
Should the scheme be approved, it would affect properties in the wards of Hull Road, Guildhall, Fishergate, Clifton, Heworth, Michlegate, Osbaldwick & Derwent and Fulford of Heslington. Read the proposals document and have your say.
Southwark-selective and additional licensing consultation (closes 28th June)
Two property licensing schemes finished at the end of 2020 in Southwark, and the council has now launched a consultation on plans to introduce both a selective licensing scheme and an additional licensing scheme in the London borough.
The council is proposing a five-year selective licensing scheme, made up of four proposed designations potentially to be implemented in two phases.
The proposed additional HMO licensing scheme would also run for five years and would apply to all HMOs in the borough of Southwark that are not already covered by the government’s mandatory HMO scheme. Have your say, read the proposals and participate in the consultation.
Wrexham-additional HMO licensing consultation (closes 5th July)
An additional licensing scheme that is currently in force in some parts of Wrexham is due to end on 21st October 2021, and the council is currently consulting on proposals to introduce a new additional licensing scheme in Wrexham, again to last for five years. If the plans are approved the scheme would start in November. To have your say in this consultation, click here.