|
Welcome to Coventry City Council`s Private Rented Sector Landlord Newsletter.
This is the first edition of a newsletter we will be producing on a regular basis so that landlords, agents and other stakeholders can understand about the work of Coventry City Council’s, Housing Enforcement and Property Licensing Teams and other relevant areas relating to the letting, management and maintenance of privately rented properties and HMOs.
In this issue:
Our Housing Enforcement and Property Licensing Teams include a number of staff who carry out the regulatory functions of the Council.
Adrian Chowns – Adrian is our Property Licensing and Housing Enforcement Team Manager and has over 25 years’ experience in: dealing with private sector housing matters; managing teams enforcing conditions in the PRS; and has overseen a number of property licensing schemes.
Steven Chantler – Steve is our Senior Enforcement Officer and is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Housing Enforcement Officers and Licensing Assistants. Steve has a wide understanding of private sector housing issues and landlord and tenant law.
Claire Taylor, Keith Ames-Rook, Michael Meehan, Glenn Crawford, Andrea Cameron and Madeline Edwards – Claire, Keith, Michael, Glenn, Andrea and Madeline are the Housing Enforcement Officers. They have a vast amount of experience and knowledge of private sector housing issues deal with the day-to-day reactive issues reported to the Council.
Dagmara Kwiatkowska – Dagmara is our Assistant Property Licensing Officer. She is responsible for dealing with licence applications, the administration of licences and general housing administration.
A House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) is defined under Section 254 to 257 of the Housing Act 2004.
The basic definition is any building or part of a building that is;
- Occupied by three or more people
- Who form two or more households
- Sharing facilities – kitchen or bathroom
- Only or main residence
- Rent or other consideration
Read a more detailed definition.
From the 1 October 2018 the definition of a Mandatory Licensable HMO changed.
In simple terms, the Government removed the three storey criteria, which means that any building occupied by five or more people in two or more households now requires a licence.
Further details.
Following a legal case brought by a landlord (Gaskin) against the London Borough of Richmond, the Council were obliged to review the HMO licensing fees. The Court of Appeal decision means that the Council must now provide a two-stage fee process for the licensing of HMOs.
The stage one fee is to be paid when an application is made to cover the costs of the application process and the stage two fee is to be paid when the Council has decided that it is going to grant a licence.
An application is not “duly made” until both fees are paid and a licence will not be issued.
The case also confirmed that the costs of operating and enforcing the scheme can be charged as part of the licence fee, previous to this the Council did not charge for the enforcement of the HMO licensing scheme (the operating costs were included in the fees). These costs are now included in the stage two payment.
These changes took effect from the 1 April 2019. The fees and charges are set out below.
|
Application type
|
Stage one fee
|
Stage two fee
|
Total fee
|
|
Higher Rate New Application - New application for a one-year licence where the HMO has been operating unlicensed for more than 12 weeks
|
£600
|
£650
|
£1,250.00
|
|
Standard New Application - New application for a one-year* licence where: i) The HMO was acquired and/or began operating as an HMO within the previous 12 weeks; or ii) The licence expired before a valid renewal application was completed; or iii) Change of existing licence holder. *May be eligible for longer licence in cases of i) or iii) if Licence Holder holds other HMO licences with us and all relevant criteria are met at time of application
|
£600
|
£455
|
£1,055.00
|
|
Standard Renewal - Renewal of a licence
|
£255
|
£290
|
£545.00
|
|
Two-year Licence - Licence (new or renewal of an annual) where all two-year licence criteria are met
|
£415
|
£290
|
£705.00
|
|
Five year licence – Five year licence where all eligibility criteria are met
|
£450
|
£190
|
£640.00
|
Read more.
The Council recently completed a consultation on proposals to introduce Selective and Additional Licensing schemes in the city. The consultation has now closed and the responses are being considered. A report setting out the responses will be submitted to the Council later in the year.
Further details about the proposed schemes.
We’re really pleased that we now have a new Landlord Accreditation Scheme, which is a voluntary scheme that we are encouraging Private Residential Landlords and Letting Agents to join.
The Coventry scheme only applies to the private rented sector and not to WM Housing owned or Housing Association properties where other Service Level Agreements apply.
The scheme includes an element of self-regulation and so relies on a degree of goodwill and trust on the parts of Landlords, Letting Agents, tenants and the Council.
Further details and register for Landlord Accreditation.
|
Following the success of the recent Landlord Forums we’ve decided to continue to provide these free events. The next forum will be held on the 5 August 2019 between 6 and 8pm and will be limited to 100 spaces – if you’d like to come along then you should register online.
In November 2018 the Council approved its Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy which sets out, amongst other things the way in which the Local Authority will carry out enforcement. The key change for the Council has been additional powers introduced under the Housing and Planning Act 2016 and in particular the use of Financial Penalties as an alternative to prosecution.
Since the introduction of its policy the Housing Enforcement Team has been carrying out various investigations into alleged housing offences across the city and has issued 20 financial penalties.
We want to work with you to improve housing in the city. If you want to get in touch with any questions please, contact the team:
Email: hmo@coventry.gov.uk
Telephone: 024 7697 5467
Website: Housing Enforcement
|
