Landlord licensing scheme “could breach EU law” over accreditation requirement, claims landlords group

The Residential Landlords Association has claimed that Coventry Council’s landlord licensing and accreditation scheme is potentially unlawful and could breach European law.

In April the council updated its mandatory licensing scheme for landlords to include an accreditation scheme.

The RLA said that under the scheme, private landlords in Coventry accredited by the council were able to obtain a longer licence for houses of multiple occupation (HMO) than those who were not. “This is the case even if landlords are able to demonstrate expertise and ability to rent property out in alternative ways, such as through training.”

According to the RLA, the only way for landlords to become accredited is to attend training courses in person.

In a letter to the local authority the group claimed that this discriminated against landlords who do not live close to their property in Coventry.

The RLA argued that this was unfair and unlawful because longer HMO licences offered a financial and practical benefit for landlords, “yet only landlords who are members of the council’s accreditation scheme will benefit from being able to obtain a five year HMO licence”.

The group added that it has concerns about the mandatory HMO licensing fee structure.

“As part of the scheme, landlords must pay the entire licence fee upfront - even if a licensing application is still pending,” it said.

“The RLA considers this to be unlawful, given that a court case in 2018 ruled that licence fees should be split into two parts, the first part being an application fee and the second part being payable once the licence has been granted.”

The RLA called on Coventy to review both the accreditation and licensing scheme “as a matter of urgency”.

David Smith, policy director for the RLA said: “The RLA is deeply concerned at the serious legal questions that hang over the Council’s licensing and accreditation scheme.

“We would strongly urge the council to review this unjust scheme.”

The council told The Coventry Telegraph that it had not acted unlawfully, saying it was in the process of developing an online training programme to its accreditation scheme. 

Tracy Miller, head of planning and regulation, said: “The Accreditation Scheme is free to all, however at the moment it requires attendance at a training event.

“It is recognised that not all landlords, agents etc are local and therefore we are developing an on-line training programme in order that we are fair and inclusive to all.”

She added: “Our Accreditation Scheme focuses on the issues relevant to Coventry, so it is a local scheme for local people. It is meant to be a proactive tool to reduce the amount of reactive enforcement and to professionalise the sector.

“We would never do anything unlawfully.”

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