Blackpool council has received the go-ahead to start selective licencing in eight inner wards despite worries among some landlords about the consultation process that preceded the decision.

The Secretary of State has approved the scheme for Bloomfield, Brunswick, Claremont, Talbot, Tyldesley, Warbreck, Waterloo and Victoria, which include 11,000 privately rented properties.

This follows a ten-week consultation that, the council claims, showed that a majority of tenants (61.2%) and 18.8% of landlords were in favour of the proposal.

But as LandlordZONE reported in April, the council initially omitted how many people had replied to the consultation, and it took local landlord Gary Wernick’s Freedom of Information request to discover that just 67 tenants filled in the form compared with 94 landlords.

This has not deterred the council or the Secretary of State, and landlords within the wards must now adhere to a number of licence conditions around property management, tenancy management and fire safety to get a licence, a process that must be completed by the 1st April 2025.

The standard licence fee for a single dwelling starts from £347 for the full five year period rising to £772, a cost that depends on whether landlords are eligible for a discount. This includes if they are a part of the council’s local quality ‘standard’ scheme and get their applications in early.

The council is at pains to stress that its selective licensing scheme will be self-financing and that no profit will be generated for the council.

The fees for the licence go back into running the scheme and supporting landlords ‘as much as possible’.

“While we recognise that many landlords provide accommodation far above and beyond the minimum standards required by law in Blackpool, unfortunately there are many properties that fall below acceptable standards,” says Councillor Mark Smith, Blackpool Council’s Cabinet Member for Economy and Built Environment.

“There is a strong link between poor housing standards and deprivation. The new selective licensing scheme will help tackle the high levels of deprivation in the designated area due to poorly maintained private rented properties.

“We want to work with landlords and support them to make the necessary improvements to meet the Blackpool standards that our residents deserve.”

Read more about the scheme.