The Council has recently appointed Michael Meehan as a Compliance Officer (Fire Safety). The post will last until 31/03/2024. 

This role will involve working alongside West Midlands Fire Service and the Council’s Building Control Team to ensure all high-rise residence accommodation in the city comply with legislation following the Grenfell Tower enquiry. 

The main requirement is to ensure that all high rise (above 18 metres) blocks in Coventry do not have combustible external cladding. 

However, the new fire safety regulations have also introduced new duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 for building owners or managers (Responsible Persons). For further information please see Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022.   

As of 1 August 2023, we will be updating our process for renewal applications. Specifically, we will be changing the way that we accept renewal applications and issue renewal licences. 

If a renewal application is submitted more than seven calendar days after the previous licence expired, it will be automatically rejected, and a new application will be required. Submitting a late renewal application impacts the new licence length. Therefore, it is important to submit renewal applications on time. 

When we issue a renewal licence this will now run from the date of issue rather than from the next day of the previous licence expiry. For example, if a licence is granted for 1 year on 01/08/2023 it will run until 31/07/2024. This change will bring renewal applications in line with new HMO applications where the licence will run from the date of issue. 

Coventry City Council’s current Additional HMO Licensing Scheme expires on 4 May 2025, and the Council now needs to carry out an in-depth review, which includes a consultation exercise that will take place for three months from July 2023. 

Additional Licensing is a scheme that applies to privately rented Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) or shared houses and requires landlords to have a licence for rented properties where either three or four people, who are not related, live together and share facilities like bathrooms and kitchens. It also includes properties which have been converted to flats but where the conversion works carried out do not comply with Building Regulations. 

The scheme aims to help ensure safe and decent standards in these homes and contributes to raising the standards of privately rented homes in the city overall. Landlords are required to apply for a licence, which can last up to five years, for each HMO property they rent out. 

We are seeking feedback from stakeholders of the current scheme with a view to enabling a full options appraisal for its future. 

We are holding public drop-in sessions across the city, so come along and find out more and ask any specific questions you might have. 

We welcome your feedback on the scheme and would appreciate you answering some questions on our short survey. 

Severn Trent are offering to replace water supply pipes that might be lead or leaking, for homeowners and landlords who own properties in Coventry CV1-CV6 (and parts of CV7). Normally changing supply pipes could cost you up to £3,000. However, Severn Trent are doing this at no cost to you.

What Severn Trent are doing and why? 

This is part of Severn Trent’s Green Recovery programme, which aims to replace up to 25,000 customer-owned lead and leaking supply pipes in Coventry with new industry-standard plastic pipes. It’s helping them to take care of one of life’s essentials and make a positive difference in our local communities.