The Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety has submitted a report to inform Cabinet of the review of the housing conditions undertaken to inform a decision for the implementation of a selective licensing scheme.

Recommendation: That Cabinet resolves to:

1.    Consider the Review of Housing Conditions and other factors affecting the private rented sector  and note its findings;

2.    Resolve that the Review indicates that a significant proportion of the private rented sector should be inspected to determine whether any category 1 and 2 hazards exist;

3.    Instruct Officers of the Council to proceed with a statutory 10 week public consultation; and

4.    Request a future report in setting out the results of the statutory consultation and to consider and determine if the proposed scheme should be made and submitted to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government for conformation

The Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety had submitted a report to inform Cabinet of the review of the housing conditions undertaken to inform a decision for the implementation of a selective licensing scheme.

Councillor Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Delivery, introduced the report and the recommendations. He accepted the recommendations from the Housing & Homelessness Panel and asked that officers sought consultation responses from a wide range of renters including from private tenants who would not normally respond to council consultations but who would be affected by the licensing scheme.

Cabinet resolved to:

1.    Note the Review of Housing Conditions and other factors affecting the private rented sector  and note its findings;

2.    Note that the Review indicates that a significant proportion of the private rented sector should be inspected to determine whether any category 1 and 2 hazards exist;

3.    Instruct Officers of the Council to proceed with a statutory 10 week public consultation; and

4.    Request a future report in setting out the results of the statutory consultation and to consider and determine if the proposed scheme should be made and submitted to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government for conformation.

On 09 September the Cabinet will consider a paper concerning proposals around the introduction of a Selective Licensing scheme. The Panel is recommended to consider the report and make any recommendations to Cabinet accordingly.

Ian Wright, Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety, will be present at the meeting to answer any questions.

In light of the importance of the issue under consideration and the wish to understand the reactions of stakeholders from outside the Council to the proposals, the Housing Panel invited a number of representatives from local organisations to give their reactions to the report. The organisations represented were the Oxford Citizens’ Advice Bureau, the letting and estate agency College and County, and the Oxford branch of the ACORN union.

Speaking prior to the presentation of the report, the Panel’s external attendees presented their views. All were in agreement with the proposals, but raised a number of issues and questions.  The most clear-running theme was the importance of enforcement of all properties, particularly given that those in the least secure housing should not be expected to whistleblow on their landlords. Without across the board enforcement, licensing would become a burden on those seeking to comply, leaving those willing not to do so, those operating within the shadow lettings market, with an advantage. It would be important to avoid the perception of ‘entrepreneurial bureaucracy’, the taking of license fees from compliant landlords to pay to tell them that they were compliant, rather than identifying and cracking down on those providing homes with category 1 and 2 health risks.

Whilst broad-spectrum enforcement was recognised to be a challenge, it was also recognised to be extremely valuable. Having minimum standards for the right to let would be a useful tool for advice agencies and unions in supporting tenants, and if done effectively would be of greatest benefit to the most vulnerable. Given the most vulnerable were identified by the CAB as those with English as a second language, on low pay and or those with mental health conditions there was seen to be a clear equalities justification. Extending licensing across the entire private rental sector, rather than simply on HMOs would also have the benefit of closing loopholes which allowed landlords and agents deemed unfit to provide HMO accommodation still able to let within the wider private rented market instead.

Other important messages were raised in relation to the importance of transparency, and the value for tenants of being able to look up on a database whether their property was licensed.

From the landlord side, an important point to note was that there was a recognition within the professional sector that licensing had been successful in raising standards in the HMO sector. Support was given to the proposals for discounts, though it was requested that there be greater clarity on the unit cost of providing the licensing service. An area of potential collaboration between letting agents and the Council was in regards to compliance, and whether there may be a role for lettings agents to be responsible for checking and guaranteeing compliance for the properties on their books, with the Council needing only to spot check a proportion of such properties.

Following these presentations, Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Delivery, introduced the report. It was underlined that plans for small  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14