The Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety submitted a report to Cabinet on 10 March which provides the results from the consultation exercise carried out for the proposal to renew the HMO Licensing Scheme and seeks approval from members to designate the whole of the City as subject to additional licensing under section 56(1)(a) of the Housing Act 2004 in relation to the size and type of HMO specified in the recommendations of the report for 5 years commencing on 10 June 2021.

Recommendations: Cabinet recommends that Council resolves to adopt the proposed fees and charges structure for both mandatory and additional HMO licences attached at Appendix 6 of the report.

Cllr Altaf Khan, having declared this item related to his disclosable pecuniary interest, left the online meeting for the duration of this item and returned to the meeting at the start of the next item.

Council considered the report of the Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety submitted a report to Cabinet on 10 March which provided the results from the consultation exercise carried out for the proposal to renew the HMO Licensing Scheme and sought approval from members to designate the whole of the City as subject to additional licensing under section 56(1)(a) of the Housing Act 2004 in relation to the size and type of HMO specified in the recommendations of the report for 5 years commencing on 10 June 2021.

The Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Delivery, Cllr Hollingsworth, introduced the report, proposed the recommendations and answered questions.

The recommendations were agreed on being seconded and put to the vote.

Council resolved to adopt the proposed fees and charges structure for both mandatory and additional HMO licences attached at Appendix 6 of the report.

The Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety has submitted a report which provides the results from the consultation exercise carried out for the proposal to renew the HMO Licensing Scheme and seeks approval from members to designate the whole of the City as subject to additional licensing under section 56(1)(a) of the Housing Act 2004 in relation to the size and type of HMO specified in the recommendations of this report for 5 years commencing on the 10^th June 2021.

Recommendations:That Cabinet resolves to:

1.    Note the Executive summary report of the Consultation of Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) 2020 and note its findings attached at Appendix 1;

2.    Confirm that, having considered the report of the consultation along with the Review report: Additional HMO licensing scheme 2020 presented to the 9th September 2020 Cabinet meeting, an Additional HMO licensing scheme is required for a further 5 years commencing the 10th June 2021;

3.    Designate the whole of the City as subject to additional licensing under section 56(1) (a) of the Housing Act 2004 for all Houses in Multiple Occupation that contain three or four occupiers and all self-contained flats that are Houses in Multiple Occupation, irrespective of the number of storeys, but, so far as concerns section 257 Houses in Multiple Occupation, limit the designation to those that are mainly or wholly tenanted, including those with resident landlords;

4.    Delegate to the Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety the authority to sign and finalise the designation at Appendix 10;

5.    Recommend to Council to adopt the proposed fees and charges structure for both mandatory and additional HMO licences attached at Appendix 6; and

6.    Adopt the eligibility criteria for the new scheme as attached at Appendix 4 and Appendix 5 and delegate to the Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety the authority to add or remove accreditation schemes, in consultation with the Head of Law and Governance.

The Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety had submitted a report to provide the results from the consultation exercise carried out for the proposal to renew the HMO Licensing Scheme and seek approval from members to designate the whole of the City as subject to additional licensing under section 56(1)(a) of the Housing Act 2004 in relation to the size and type of HMO specified in the recommendations of this report for 5 years commencing on the 10^th June 2021.

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Planning & Housing Delivery, introduced the report which simply sought agreement to the third five year cycle of the licensing scheme.

The Chair noted that this scheme, which had been subject to some controversy when it was originally launched, was now recognised to be of benefit to tenants and landlords alike.

Cabinet resolved to:

1.    Note the Executive summary report of the Consultation of Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) 2020 and note its findings attached at Appendix 1;

2.    Confirm that, having considered the report of the consultation along with the Review report: Additional HMO licensing scheme 2020 presented to the 9th September 2020 Cabinet meeting, an Additional HMO licensing scheme is required for a further 5 years commencing the 10th June 2021;

3.    Designate the whole of the City as subject to additional licensing under section 56(1) (a) of the Housing Act 2004 for all Houses in Multiple Occupation that contain three or four occupiers and all self-contained flats that are Houses in Multiple Occupation, irrespective of the number of storeys, but, so far as concerns section 257 Houses in Multiple Occupation, limit the designation to those that are mainly or wholly tenanted, including those with resident landlords;

4.    Delegate to the Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety the authority to sign and finalise the designation at Appendix 10;

5.    Recommend to Council to adopt the proposed fees and charges structure for both mandatory and additional HMO licences attached at Appendix 6; and

6.    Adopt the eligibility criteria for the new scheme as attached at Appendix 4 and Appendix 5 and delegate to the Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety the authority to add or remove accreditation schemes, in consultation with the Head of Law and Governance.

On 09 September the Cabinet will consider a paper concerning proposals around the renewal of the Council’s HMO 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.

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Delivery, introduced the report on renewing the Council’s HMO licensing scheme. It was stressed that the scheme was renewal, having already been renewed once. Though some minor changes were being made, the biggest issue brought to the Panel’s attention was that owing to Covid-19 and the lockdown, the Council had been unable to run the current consultation earlier in the year. Central government had not waived its requirement for consultation and so consequently, there would be a period prior to the new scheme being adopted where the old one would have lapsed.

Ian Wright, Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety, introduced the technical aspects of the report. The scheme had originally been established in 2011, and whilst government policy had caught up with the scheme’s policy regarding larger HMOs, it remained necessary to prove licensing was also required for smaller ones. A review of the existing scheme showed that there remained a significant number of HMOs not being managed up to standard and that a licensing scheme was required to improve standards. Non-compliance had remained stubbornly high; through spot checks, initial inspection and end of license inspections it was known that only 47% of small HMO properties were compliant. This was a slow improvement over time, but not sufficient to stop running the scheme. Numbers of non-licensed properties were also declining though still being discovered.

The Panel asked a number of questions relating to:

-          Whether measures were available, particularly grants, to encourage landlords to comply with licensing requirements, rather than simply the threat of punishment. Largely, grants were no longer available bar for energy efficiency measures.

The Panel NOTED the report with support for it.