Agenda item

This report sets out the steps taken to improve Private Sector Housing

through discretionary property licensing.

Ed Shaylor – (Private Sector Housing Manager) introduced the item which set out the steps taken to improve Private Sector Housing through discretionary property licensing.

Ed Shaylor provided a short presentation and the following points were noted:

• The private rented sector in H&F is the sixth highest in London and eighth highest in the country and accounts for 30% of all households (2011 census)
• In 2017, the council introduced two discretionary property licensing schemes which expire in June 2022. 
• These schemes require landlords of privately rented houses/flats to be licensed, as follows:
• Additional Licensing: Houses and Flats in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) for HMOs which are NOT Mandatory HMOs. To improve standards of property management and living conditions; and
• Selective Licensing: All rented dwellings in 128 specified streets to reduce antisocial behaviour (ASB) where the levels of ASB, rubbish and noise problems from private renters was above average

Key points:

•       Public consultation to gather opinions about re-designating both schemes from June 2022 for a further 5 years.

•       Can only include 20% of the borough’s private rented addresses in the licensing scheme, without secretary of state approval. 

•       HMO licensing Borough wide will ensure all areas of the Borough are properly supported by the private sector housing team. 

Reasons for Proposal of new licensing Scheme:

1. Survey of private renting tenants in the borough from December to February 2021: Showed significant minorities of tenants who were dissatisfied with their landlords and / or stated deficiencies in safety or amenity standards in their rented property.
2. Preliminary finding from the current consultation: Privately renting tenants have a high level of support for licensing schemes (around 80%). 
3. Interventions: Issues relating to antisocial behaviour, noise nuisance, poor waste management and public health nuisance, are easier to address if specific streets are designated. Dedicated resource can be focussed on targeted enforcement interventions in those areas.
4. Housing standards: Inspections have uncovered significant problems which can be improved through licensing conditions, e.g. Lack of fire doors or fire detection systems; undersized kitchen for the number of occupiers; Overcrowding; bedroom too small.

Leasehold ownership: Flats formerly owned by the Council altered internally are sometimes unsuitable for multiple occupancy in terms of space, amenities and pressure on services and utilities

Proposals for June 2022 to June 2027 scheme

a)    Continue discretionary licensing schemes but substantially reduce the number of streets in the Selective Licensing scheme from 128 to 23.

b)    Focus on busy roads, flats above shops, and roads with a significant private rented sector: 4 streets in W6; 4 streets in W14; 9 streets in W12; 5 streets in SW6; and 1 street in NW10.

c)    New scheme will have the same number of addresses as the old scheme, just fewer roads as the roads are larger. 

d)     Proposal to prohibit multiple occupation use of leasehold flats where the council is the freeholder - pressure on block infrastructure and nuisance to neighbours

Councillor Helen Rowbottom thanked Ed Shaylor for the presentation and commented that the discretionary property licensing scheme was a welcome initiative. She asked if more details could be provided on how the scheme impacted on tenants, especially those tenants whose current living conditions breached the bare minimum threshold set by the scheme. In response, Ed Shaylor acknowledged the scheme was a balancing act to try and keep accommodation as affordable as possible without eroding standards to such a degree, that people were renting sub-standard accommodation. He confirmed the scheme did allow circumstances where all the rooms in a house or flat could be used as bedrooms, however the minimum standard of a 10m squared room was introduced.

Ed Shaylor confirmed if ancillary accommodation was available for use, such as a communal living room or kitchen, this standard was adjusted to 6.5m squared which was the government minimum standard. Ed Shaylor acknowledged that if landlords had undertaken internal modifications to their properties in good faith, it would then be very difficult to ask them to undo this work.

Asking a follow-up question, Councillor Helen Rowbottom asked about the vision of the scheme in terms of who could live where and under what conditions. In response, Ed Shaylor commented it was an aspiration for rents to decrease and to maintain standards. Ed Shaylor explained that Licensing had other advantages besides increasing the quality of the conditions of the accommodation. These included making it easier to identify rogue landlords, so by publicising the Council’s amenity standards and conditions, landlords knew what these were when they applied for a license and so by a process of elimination, the Council could deduce which properties did not have a valid licence.

Councillor Helen Rowbottom enquired if there was a mechanism for tenants to contact the Council, if for example, they did not have a valid gas safety certificate. Ed Shaylor explained any resident could email phs@lbhf.gov.uk or use the Council’s  Private Sector Housing pages to access further contact details. Ed Shaylor confirmed that in those circumstances were remedial action was required, the Council would provide landlords with a notice period to make good the repairs / issues which required attention.

Councillor Adronie Alford asked for further clarification about how the selective licensing scheme worked. In response, Ed Shaylor explained that the Council had two separate schemes. Selective licensing which was proposed to be on 23 main roads in the borough which was for any flat or house which was rented to a tenant. And houses or flats in multiple occupation (3 unrelated people sharing a property) which the Council proposed to licence across the whole borough. Ed Shaylor confirmed that estimates from 2017 had suggested there were about 4100 of each type of property in the borough (selective and HMO). Currently, the Private Rented Sector Team has licensed 3,000 of each type so are working on finding the remaining 2200 or so properties.

According to the ten-year old census, the rented sector within Hammersmith and Fulham numbered about 27,000 properties and this estimate would be revised by the new census data when it arrived. Ed Shaylor reported that over the next 5 years from June 2022, the Private Rented Sector Team aimed to process 5,000 properties in the new Selective Licensing scheme and 4,000 in the Additional HMO licensing scheme.

Councillor Adronie Alford asked whether it was Council policy to not allow any form of sub-letting in council leasehold flats. Ed Shaylor confirmed that this only applied to sub-letters to sharers of 3 or more and this sought to reduce the pressure on the infrastructure of some of the more aged properties within the borough. Details were provided on the different types of properties and the iterations this had on the licence. Ed Shaylor confirmed the exact details of those tenants which might qualify for a waiver was still under discussion, and the full details would be discussed at Cabinet in December 2021.

Councillor Adronie Alford asked for further clarification about what constituted an under sized kitchen. In response, Ed Shaylor confirmed that this was 4m squared (for up to 4 people) with a further square metre added for each additional person after that. Asking a further question, Councillor Alford explained the paperwork to licence an individual property was complicated and, citing anecdotal evidence, mentioned that the assistance provided by the Council could have been better. Ed Shaylor confirmed that improvements had been made and now licensing officers took telephone and email addresses from people in difficulty and would follow up these accordingly.

Councillor Adronie Alford asked for further details to be provided about the enforcement activities which had been undertaken against rogue landlords. In response, Ed Shaylor explained that each individual case was different, but it was in the public interest to concentrate resources on those landlords with multiple properties with significant degrees of non-compliance, so a clear deterrent was sent.

The Chair endorsed the selective licensing scheme and asked for further clarification on the reduction of the number of streets where this would be applied and what this would mean in practice. Ed Shaylor confirmed the reduction was significant from 128 streets to 23. The Council would be focusing on areas which had been problematic in the past so resources could be concentrated and used most effectively.

The Chair asked how frequently the Council undertook surveys of tenants (in relation to waste collection and complaints arising from non-collection) and how the Department addressed these types of thematic issues. Ed Shaylor confirmed that consultation feedback was not particularly strong, and it was often complaints data or member casework that was used to inform issues with landlords. He explained private dwellings were one of the most highly regulated areas, in terms of public health and housing regulations, so there were a significant number of powers the Council could use. Where the Licensing scheme was helpful, was that it enabled the Private Rented Sector Housing Team to join up resources with law enforcement, planning enforcement and street cleansing to target and tackle problem areas as specific projects. It also allowed the Private Rented Sector Team to, through a process of elimination, uncover those landlords which had not applied for licences.

Summing up the discussions, the Chair thanked Ed Shaylor and his team for all the work which had been done and confirmed the Committee looked forward to reviewing the final proposals when they were finalised in December 2021.

Action: That the Committee review and comment on the Cabinet report

RESOLVED

That the Committee reviewed and commented on the report.