RLA : RPI : Licensing should be 'unfettered'

News from the Residential Property Investor, the bi-monthly magazine for RLA members

other artilces from the August / September 2003 issue

Licensing should be 'unfettered' - August / September 2003

Local authorities should have hugely extended powers to license landlords, a select committee examining the Housing Bill has recommended.

There is no reason why mandatory licensing of houses in multiple occupation, a feature of the Bill, should draw the line at larger properties. 'The Government's two tier approach to licensing HMOs (mandatory licensing of larger properties and discretionary powers to councils to license smaller properties) does not meet its aim of having a consistent approach', said the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister departmental select committee, chaired by former geography teacher, Labour MP Andrew Bennett.

Also, 'we are not convinced that mandatory licensing of HMOs should be limited to properties of three or more storeys with five or more residents. The Government's evidence suggests that high risks in HMOs are caused by a range of factors the number of storeys and the number of occupants are only two amongst many'.

The Committee also wanted the proposed discretionary power of local authorities to license private landlords of all types of property in areas of low demand to be extended to all areas.

If the Government is not prepared to give councils unfettered discretionary powers to license private landlords, it should ensure that the scope to use licensing outside of low demand areas is widely drawn, it said.

Landlords' arguments that voluntary accreditation schemes would be sufficient to improve standards in the private rented sector were dismissed as 'unconvincing'.

Mark Butterworth, who gave evidence to the Committee on behalf of the RLA, presented the case against licensing, which he said would be expensive and cumbersome. Accreditation, he said, would bring improvement by training and agreed management standards, leading to improved physical standards. The result would be greater competition in rented housing with no place for poorer properties whose owners would drop out of the market. 'This achieves the aims of the Bill without heavy costs and legislation and without losing too much good affordable accommodation along the way', he said.

Appearing before the Committee had been useful, Butterworth told RPI. 'It allowed us to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the cases of those who criticise and harm our profession'.

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