A council is telling landlords that its new selective licensing fee is so low it should be entirely tax deductible and shouldn’t justify a rent rise for tenants.
Brighton and Hove’s Labour council is proposing to charge landlords an application fee of £670 plus£2.57 a week. A discount of £75 would apply to properties with an energy performance certificate rating of C or above along with a reduced weekly fee of £2.29.
Anyone failing to apply for a licence would be liable to pay a £760 “prompted fee”.
Councillor Andrei Czolak has told local media: “The arguments we often encounter against licensing schemes is the notion that it would lead landlords to raise rents to cover the costs.
“…We expect the proposed fee structure to be reasonable enough such that the fees would be fully tax deductible. That should mean there is no need for landlords to raise rents in response to these costs.”
Now the proposal is out for a consultation lasting 12 weeks.
If approved Brighton and Hove council plans to start the scheme in four wards initially, involving around 4,000 rental properties.
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