A Labour council that lost government support for its landlord licensing regime says it’s reviewing its options and will produce new proposals by October 1.
In June Croydon council was on the receiving end of criticism from Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick, who was reported to have denied the request for a new licensing scheme because the council allegedly failed to provide any evidence of a housing strategy.
At the time a story on the Inside Croydon website claimed the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and its civil servants were “devastating in their critique of Croydon’s renewal submission.” This reportedly left the council with a £22m ‘black hole’ because expected landlord licensing fees would not be recovered.
Now the council has come out with a statement as a result of its deliberations on its next steps.
“Our landlord licensing scheme allowed us to carry out much-needed proactive work – including successful prosecutions – to protect tenants and make our borough a better place to rent” claims Croydon councillor Patricia Hay-Justice, cabinet member for homes.
“Nearly one third of all Croydon homes are in the private-rented sector, so the need for us to continue supporting their tenants hasn’t gone away just because our renewal application was turned down.
“So later this year we will review our options on the best way forward, and if this results in any significant proposed changes we would consult residents and landlords before making a decision.”
From 2015 to 2020, the council ran a borough-wide selective licensing scheme for its 38,500 privately let homes.
The council claims that the scheme “resolved thousands of incidents with landlords without needing further action, served over 1,000 enforcement notices and banned over 75 offending landlords from holding a licence.”
The council also took landlords to court in over 20 cases for the most serious offences.
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