Landlords have been advised to check whether they’re in one of the 37 licensing schemes currently under consultation or about to be implemented – or risk a huge fine.
In December, the government announced that councils in England now don’t need to get approval from the Secretary of State if they want to implement a selective licensing scheme of any size.
Although councils must consult for at least 10 weeks on the proposal, property compliance platform Yuno says the reach and effectiveness of these consultations can vary dramatically. In some cases, they can be implemented without the landlord’s knowledge unless they’re proactively keeping up with lettings legalities or their rental property is being managed by a qualified agent.
CEO Paul Conway (pictured) believes the change will increase the chances of all landlords and agents being caught out by widening licensing in an area, especially if it’s not well publicised.
Yuno has seen fees for new applications in Leeds as high as £1,225 while not licensing a property correctly could lead to fines of up to £30,000 per offence.
Conway tells LandlordZONE: “Some councils are better than others but all need to do so much more to help get the word out and be fair to landlords. Councils that have run schemes in the past have a larger database, but with new schemes they don’t always know who the landlords are, so how would a landlord know about it?”
According to data from Yuno, the licensing schemes under consultation include: Blackpool (selective); Carmarthenshire (additional); Gateshead (selective); Gelding - (selective); Lancaster (selective); Manchester (selective); Mansfield (selective); Newcastle-upon Tyne (additional); North Lincolnshire (selective); North Yorkshire (selective); Reading (selective); Rochdale (additional); Salford (selective); Sandwell (additional); Stockton-on-Tees (selective); and Walsall (additional).
London could see the most new licensing schemes, including: City of Westminster (selective); Barking and Dagenham (additional); Enfield (additional); Wandsworth (selective); and Waltham Forest (additional).
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