Sheffield Council has boasted that up to 800 people have been protected from risky buildings thanks to its selective licensing scheme after landlords were told to spend £250,000 doing up properties.

A five-year designation in areas of London Road, Abbeydale Road and Chesterfield Road received 483 licence applications before ending last November.

It uncovered 219 properties with at least one Category 1 or High Scoring Category 2 Hazard; by the time it finished, 95% of the 492 hazards had been removed while the remaining 27 in seven properties are in the process of being removed. Landlords paid £750 for each property to be licenced.

“By considering the maximum occupancy of the properties where hazards were identified it is possible to estimate that up to 800 people have been made safer following the removal of serious safety hazards from their homes,” a town hall (pictured) report says.

By 2023, 99% of all licenced properties had been inspected at least once, 65 civil penalties were issued for failure to licence offences and seven prosecutions were sought for failure to licence and failing to provide information.

Limit involvement

One management company was deemed not to be fit and proper and had its application turned down while one property owner without an active role in management had additional conditions written into their licence to limit involvement with the property.

It is estimated that property owners spent more than £250,000 on improvements. As landlords have complied with the scheme and carried out required works, the council says there are no grounds to seek to extend the designation.

It adds: “Landlords who we had fit and proper concerns about, but who did not receive a licence due to their applications being assessed at the time of the scheme ending are now known to the service which enables us to monitor their working practices across the city.”

Picture credit: Shutterstock/Janis Abolins