Croydon mulls consultation on area-wide selective licensing for all landlords

The Cabinet at Croydon Council will next week consider issuing a consultation on a selective licensing scheme that would cover every landlord in the borough.

The authority said the proposed scheme under the Housing Act 2004 would be part of its Don’t Mess with Croydon campaign, which is intended to improve conditions in private rented accommodation.

“It means every private landlord will be required to obtain a licence, whereby they will have to demonstrate they have met a series of health and safety standards,” Croydon said. “The scheme will also require stringent ‘fit and proper’ checks of landlords for any criminal convictions.

“Those renting out a property without a licence face fines of up to £20,000, while those who fail to comply with licence conditions can be prosecuted and fined up to £5,000.”

The council reported that private renting had increased significantly in its area, “with one of the negative consequences being poor quality homes, noise, litter, fly-tipping and antisocial behaviour”.

It added that the number of complaints it had received concerning private rented housing standards had more than doubled from 630 in 2010/11 to 1,371 in 2013/14.

If the consultation is approved, an executive director will report on the outcome in late 2014 or early 2015.

Cllr Alison Butler, Cabinet member for homes and regeneration, said: “Although Croydon has many responsible landlords, there are some who rent out accommodation that is not fit to live in and fail to manage their properties. We have listened to the concerns not only of tenants living in poor quality homes but to the many residents in Croydon who are affected by poorly kept accommodation in their streets.

“This council is determined to improve the quality of homes for all and this scheme will provide a range of benefits and drive up standards in the private rental sector.”

The report for Croydon’s Cabinet, which can be viewed here, cites recent research from Environmental Health News showing that 15 English local authorities have now established selective licensing regimes.

In 2013 Newham Council became the first local authority in the country to introduce a mandatory selective licensing scheme for all landlords in its area.

The Croydon report said Newham had banned 18 landlords as not ‘fit and proper’, carried out 243 enforcement prosecutions and issued 136 simple cautions, achieved an average court fine of £5,988, with a maximum fine of £26,238.