Council going back to the drawing board over unlawful licensing consultation

Greenwich Council is re-launching its consultation on additional licensing plans following complaints from the NRLA. Policy officer Samantha Watkin explains more.

Discretionary licensing has always been a contentious issue for the private landlord. With more councils introducing such schemes, more and more scrutiny is being paid to how these councils are running them and their impact on the private rented sector.

Because of the serious financial implications for landlords, it is vital that councils consult lawfully and follow government guidance surrounding the introduction of discretionary licensing.

Greenwich Council ran an additional licensing consultation towards the end of last year, which the NRLA complained was unlawful on the basis that:

• the consultation documentation was in a format that was not easily accessible,
• there was no evidence report to support another scheme,
• there were no alternatives to discretionary licensing offered, and
• It did not include a report commissioned by the council reviewed the original additional licensing scheme, which ran from 2016-2021.

The NRLA wrote to Greenwich Council highlighting the flaws with the consultation and making it clear that if a designation of additional licensing was made based on the findings, then the Association would consider legal action, and the matter would be escalated to a judicial review.

The Council has now confirmed that following feedback from stakeholders including from the NRLA, they will relaunch the consultation, with the additional documentation.

Damning

The Council’s own commissioned report showed that the original 2016-2021 scheme was a failure, with a survey of licence holders of the previous additional licensing designation stating in the majority that they were:

• dissatisfied with the scheme overall
• dissatisfied with applying for a licence
• dissatisfied with payment of fees and
• dissatisfied with communication during the application process.

It goes on to state the majority of survey respondents said the additional licensing scheme had resulted in no change to HMO property conditions, made no change to management standards among HMOs and had no impact on the local area.

A series of freedom of information requests submitted throughout the course of 2021 and 2022 also paints a patchy picture.

An audit was also conducted for the previous additional licensing designation which covered just under four years of the scheme, and revealed the Council took just over nine months for an application to be decided; inspected just 79 properties out of an estimated 6,500 HMOs and identified just 12 properties with category one hazards.

Inspection rates remained relatively static during the pandemic, suggesting little impact on the number of inspections performed. From 2018 to 2021, the Council carried out just 472 HHSRS inspections in the PRS and issued 100 Improvement Notices in the same period.

This is despite stating they have 17 Environment Health Officers employed to enforce standards in the private rented sector.

Despite this, the council maintains the scheme has been a success and justifies introducing another borough-wide designation.

The NRLA’s opinion

Greenwich is an example of a council that has pinned a huge deal on discretionary licensing to do the heavy lifting of its enforcement activity.

Despite charging some of the highest licence fees in London, there was not a consistent or indeed active inspection regime for its additionally licensed stock whilst the previous scheme was still active.

Instead of engaging in a consistent strategy and fully utilising existing enforcement powers, the Council has gone for the nuclear option. The Council has an uphill battle to prove why additional licensing is the only way to tackle problems in the PRS in Greenwich, so it is important that landlords voice their concerns.

The NRLA will be responding to the new consultation – which will run until 24th March – and would advise all landlords affected to do the same.

For details of the new additional licensing consultation, a copy of the commissioned report and the opportunity to respond, visit the Council’s website here.

More information

The NRLA has produced a licensing toolkit on how to respond to a consultation, which can be found on our website for use by members here.

A copy of the licensing audit can be found on the London Property Licensing website here.