Agenda item

To update the Committee on performance, quality and impact of the Selective Licensing Scheme that commenced on 1 August 2023 for the wards of Dollis Hill, Harlesden & Kensal Green, and Willesden.

Councillor Promise Knight (Cabinet Member for Housing, Homelessness and Renters) introduced the report, which detailed performance, quality and impact of the new Selective Licensing Scheme, which launched on 1 August 2023 covering the wards of Dollis Hill, Harlesden & Kensal Green, Willesden. She advised the Committee that the scheme was set in the context of the Council’s wider priorities to tackle housing need, improve property standards and reduce anti-social behaviour. She felt that improving standards in the Private Rented Sector was essential to the homelessness crisis, and asked the Committee to note the increase in officer capacity of an additional 8 Compliance Officers to help enforce the new scheme.

The Chair thanked Councillor Knight for her introduction and invited comments and questions from those present. The following points were raised:

The Committee asked for further details about the financing of the scheme. Spencer Randolph (Head of Private Housing Services, Brent Council) advised members that the scheme was self-financing, so the money brought in from the licence fee could only be used for the enforcement and administration of the licensing scheme. Landlords were responsible for paying that fee, and the Council tried to keep that fee to a reasonable amount to avoid that fee being passed on to tenants. The cost of the licence was £640 for a 5 year licence, which amounted to a relatively low cost per week and per year and was tax deductible. The license helped to ensure tenants were living in safer accommodation and allowed the Council to enforce a regime to inspect more properties. The aim was to inspect 50% of properties that had a selective licence. It was added that the new scheme started on 1 August 2023 so was still in the stage of processing applications. There had been 3,000 applications received already and 2,000 draft licenses had been processed. The Council had already issued 1,000 full licences.

The Committee asked about the remaining privately rented properties in licensable areas that had not submitted license applications. Spencer Randolph explained that the Council never anticipated that 100% of landlords owning privately rented properties would make license applications within the first few months. In the past, the schemes the Council had implemented had exceeded the number of properties it had expected to be licensed by approximately 135%, so the Council had confidence that with the communications plan those license applications would come in over the period of the scheme. In response to how the Council would motivate less willing or responsible landlords to apply and comply, the Committee was informed that there were various strategies to do that. A 5 year enforcement plan was in place that combined the current scheme and the larger licensing scheme, which would conduct targeted inspections in particular areas where there was the potential for high levels of selective licensable properties. Part of the communications strategy was not just requiring landlords to make applications but also for tenants and neighbours to report properties they thought should be licensed, so there was a multi-faceted approach being taken.

The Committee asked how confident the Council was that Brent would eventually have borough wide selective licensing, and asked why Wembley Park ward was excluded from that ambition. Members heard that there was a strong case for introducing licensing across the borough, but the decision was for central government to make. In relation to excluding Wembley Park, officers advised the Committee that licensing could only be brought in to an area if it met certain criteria. The criteria that would apply in Brent focused on anti-social behaviour and poor property condition. While there were approximately 8,000 privately rented properties in Wembley Park, there should not be any of poor condition because they were all new properties and were being managed well. There were several properties in Wembley Park that were multiple occupied, and they would require a HMO licence.

In relation to the 8 additional Compliance Officers, the Committee asked whether the Council was confident that this capacity would be enough to meet the demand. Spencer Randolph informed members that there had been 4 Compliance Officers already in post, so with the additional 8 officers there were now 12. The Council had done some forward thinking in relation to the number of officers required if the Council were to receive approval from Central Government to introduce selective licensing across the whole of the borough, and pre-empted that by budgeting for a total of 15 officers to cover the entire borough. It was estimated that would give the Council 15,000 inspections over the life of the 5-year scheme, and the Council was confident that was manageable between 15 officers on the basis of how many inspections officers should be able to complete a week.

Clarification was provided that the Selective Licensing Scheme was different and separate to the Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMO) Licensing Scheme. Every HMO that was licensed must be inspected, and Brent had licensed more HMOs than any other borough in London. The Council now had the ability to fine landlords in breach of their HMO licence through fixed penalty notices, which had resulted in approximately £900,000 worth of income which could be reinvested into enforcement of the schemes.

The Committee asked what residents should do if they had issues in their property and were in social housing. Members were advised that social housing was exempt from the Selective Licensing regime and if social housing tenants had issues they should go through the complaints process of their Housing Association or Council and if not they were not satisfied with the response then they could go to the Housing Ombudsman.

As no further points were raised, the Chair drew the item to a close. He invited recommendations from the Committee, with the following RESOLVED:

i)              For officers to ensure that ward councillors were well informed on the work being done and that there was a process in place for ward councillors to feed back to constituents on that work.

ii)             Members felt that there were significant issues in relation to Houses of Multiple Occupancy, and recommended that the expanded team concentrate initially on HMOs to find unlicensed properties.