APPENDIX 9 LANDLORD LICENSING IN TRINITY REPRESENTATIONS RECEIVED DURING THE CONSULTATION Before any new designation can be approved, the Council must consult for a period of not less than 10 weeks. The consultation process commenced on the 6th May 2013 using the following methods to ensure that a full consultation exercise was completed: Posters in the area, local businesses, schools, community centres, health centres, public buildings etc. Leaflets to residents through school bags, placed in local businesses, community centres, health centres, public buildings etc. Resident Questionnaire hand delivered to every household in the area, and block adjacent to the area. Landlord Questionnaire emailed or posted to every known landlord and agent in the area. Questionnaire to local businesses. Public event for Residents. Consultation of the Private Rented Sector Forum. Landlord meetings. Transcriptions of Written Representations received and Responses Who and how Date Text Respondent 20/5/13 Why aren’t Buccleuch St, Grant St and Weldon Street on the map (telephone call) on the questionnaire? Is there something you aren’t telling us? Are our houses being knocked down? BBC answer 20/5/13 Explained that it was an error and that the three streets are (telephone call) included in the selective licensing area. There were no plans to demolish those streets. I asked the respondent to complete the questionnaire and if they see their neighbours to reassure them the Streets in question are included. Respondent 21/5/13 What area is to be chosen next for Selective Licensing? (telephone call) What is the Council’s perspective on current Selective Licensing in Trinity? BBC answer 21/5/13 Advised the respondent that the Council were not yet looking at (telephone call) another Selective Licensing area, but concentrating on the new designation of Trinity at present. Another area may be looked at some time next year to consider a proposal for Selective Licensing. Advised the respondent that the decision had to go to Executive to seek approval to consult for a new Trinity designation. The approval was given. The new consultation period was to last 11 Page 1 of 69 weeks (dates given). The Council were confident Selective Licensing had made a significant impact in the Trinity area, particularly regarding Anti-Social Behaviour and reference checking new/prospective tenants and we were hopeful responses received back would reflect this. Advised the respondent to visit the Councils website now further information was available and view proposal documentation/fee structure etc. The respondent said they would and that they were waiting for their questionnaire to arrive. Respondent 24/5/13 New Licence now received, what happens when this runs out in (telephone call) October 2013? BBC answer 24/5/13 Advised the respondent that the consultation process was now (telephone call) taking place for a possible new designation of Trinity. This will last 11 weeks. After the consultation has closed the Council will make a decision based on the response received. Advised the respondent of the Landlords Consultation Event on 5th June at Mechanics and advised that they may find this event useful. Asked the respondent if they had received their questionnaire and they said yes and so had x. They will complete the questionnaire and return to us. Respondent 24/05/13 I require please a breakdown of the costs of Selective Licensing in (email) view of the proposed extension of scheme. BBC answer 07/06/13 I have attached a document that outlines how we have arrived at (email) the fee. The budget expenditure to the end of March 2013 is as follows: Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual 2008/0 2009/1 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 9 0 Expenditure[Em 27,150 93,003 114,810 116,492 109,775 ployee costs + Other Charges] .25 .34 .66 .38 .81 Selective Licensing – Fee proposal What can the fee cover? When fixing a fee for the application of a licence the Council can take into account all costs incurred whilst carrying out the functions Page 2 of 69 under Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004. These functions include: • Designating of the area; • Duration review and revocation of designations (inc. monitoring effectiveness against objectives); • Temporary Exemptions; • Processing applications for refusal or approval (inc Fit and Proper Person and satisfactory management arrangements); • Applying both mandatory and discretionary licence conditions; • Variation of licences; • Revocation of licences; • Appeals against decisions; • Dealing with offences in relation to licensing; • Other consequences of operating unlicensed houses (eg rent repayment orders, management orders, prosecutions). How have we arrived at the budget? Using officer experience, we have identified the tasks involved in the application process from beginning to end. The level of properties and landlords for the area is now known, and we have identified a predicted number of new properties to be licensed within the next 5 years. It is proposed that the applications are dealt with in the following years: Proper ty Analy sis Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Total Prop Props Props Props Props Props s Renew als 284 57 0 0 0 341 Renew als (Additi onal) 204 41 0 0 0 245 New Apps 6 6 7 7 6 32 New Apps (Additi onal) 4 4 4 4 4 20 Total 498 108 11 11 10 638 We looked at the task timings per application and the total number of applications to be processed per year, this enabled a calculation Page 3 of 69 to be made for the total hours required to process the applications. We then looked at all the other functions that are to be covered as part of the designation, and based on officer experience an average task time, per property for the 5 years was calculated, this then gave an indication of the likely level of staffing resources required for the monitoring. The staffing requirements for both elements were then added together to give the staffing requirements for the scheme. The proposed staffing structure to deliver the required level of work is as follows: Full Time – Project Assistant from Year 1 to Year 5. Full Time – Project Officer in Year 1 reducing to half time from Year 2 to Year 5. Full Time – Admin Assistant in Year 1 reducing to half time from Year 2 to Year 5. The associated revenue costs of delivering the project is approximately £490,000 for the 5 years. This has been based on actual costs of the current designation. Discounts It is proposed that a 15% discount is awarded to landlords who have joined the Good Landlord and Agent Scheme (GLAS) prior to the designation being awarded by the Executive, in recognition of the standards they have already achieved and their willingness to engage with the Council. Respondent 25/05/13 Points in favour: (email) 1. They have improved the Accrington Road area (this is not in the licensing area – but money was spent improving this area and it has worked) 2. They are helping source better tenants in the Licensing area 3. Tenants in the area get more attention paid to them by the council – they have meetings, Streetscene goes there more often, better Policing in the area 4. New investors in the area feel more confidence in buying where an area is officially monitored. 5. The scheme has invested 5 years of effort and if abandoned now the bad tenants who were moved on may move back, and the area may go down even further. Points against: 1. Landlords pay the cost but owner occupiers in the area get the benefit without paying 2. Rents are no higher in the area, so after adding cost of Page 4 of 69 licensing it is less profitable for investors to own there 3. The decent landlords who will make improvements, keep yards clear etc get harassed because they will comply, while others who won’t get away with doing nothing. 4. Landlords do not feel the benefit – for example neglected neighboring properties that are ruining a landlord’s house are not being repaired or done up. (example XXXXXXXX) 5. There is a general feeling that this is merely a job creation scheme for the council – it keeps staff busy with fine sounding projects but they don’t have the power to enforce the changes needed – ie CPO the bad houses, evict the bad tenants, put tenants into the empty streets 6. The council is not interested in finding and chasing the bad landlords – except for their license fee. When we ask for help with bad properties we are told it is a civil issue and we need to contact the owner ourselves via land registry search. So what are we paying the license for? Overall conclusion: Renew the licensing in Trinity – but put some teeth into it. Chase out the bad landlords and tenants, clear up the empty property areas, force landlords to either refurb or sell the empties – get the council to CPO (at rock bottom prices) the properties that are neglected and let the council itself auction them off to landlords who have proven records of good practice. Demolish streets with no hope for the future. Encourage employment in the area with grants or support for small businesses there. If you cannot enforce improvements in the area then there is no point in continuing and the scheme should not be renewed when it runs out. BBC answer 14/06/13 I am pleased to hear your thoughts on the positive aspects of (email) selective licensing and agree that if the scheme was to come to an end that we would lose some of the progress made over the previous 5 years.