Agenda item

(Report of the Director of Place and Sustainability. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Planning and Enforcement). The report seeks approval of an Additional HMO Licensing Scheme for the designation of Houses in Multiple Occupation within all or parts of the wards of Northumberland Park, Tottenham Hale and Bruce Grove, for a five year period, to commence on 1 May 2014.

Cabinet considered a report, introduced by the Cabinet Member for Planning and Enforcement, which sough approval of an Additional HMO Licensing Scheme for the designation of Houses in Multiple Occupation within all or parts of the wards of Northumberland Park, Tottenham Hale and Bruce Grove, for a five year period, to commence on 1 May 2014.

RESOLVED:

1. That the results of the evidence gathering exercise that has been undertaken to meet the designated declaration criteria for proposing such a scheme (which are summarised in Section 5 of this report and described in Appendices 1 and 2) be noted;

2. That the results of the consultation exercise undertaken in relation to the proposed Additional HMO Licensing Scheme (which are summarised in Section 5of this report and described in Appendix 4) be noted;

3. That the role played by the Additional HMO Licensing Scheme and the Article 4 Direction in the delivery of a co-ordinated approach to HMO enforcement be noted;

4. That the declaration of an Additional HMO Licensing Scheme for the designation of houses in multiple occupation within all or parts of the wards of Northumberland Park, Tottenham Hale, Bruce Grove, Tottenham Green and Seven Sisters (as described in Section 5 of this report) for a five year period that will commence on 1 May 2014 be approved;

5. That the fee structure and property standards that will apply to the Additional HMO Licensing Scheme and which were agreed by the Cabinet on 7 June 2011 (summarised in Section 5 and described in Appendices 5 & 6 of this report) be approved;

6. That the designation of the proposed area for Additional Licensing of houses in multiple occupation (summarised in Section 5 and described in Appendix 7) be approved;

7. That he ring-fencing of the HMO licensing fee income and the proceeds from any Rent Repayment Orders to support the robust enforcement of the licensing scheme and standards for the duration of the scheme be approved; and

8. That the use of £15,000 of the additional funding allocated for HMO and Article 4 work to assess the nature and extent of the anti-social behaviour associated with the private rented sector, as part of the Council’s assessment of the merits and feasibility of introducing a Selective Licensing Scheme be approved.

Alternative options considered
Consideration has been given to other options that the Council could pursue if it decides that an Additional HMO Licensing Scheme should not be introduced. These include Landlord Accreditation, the expansion of the Landlords Forum and the introduction of Selective Licensing.

Landlord Accreditation and Landlords Forum

London’s Landlord Accreditation Scheme provides official recognition for responsible private landlords who comply with professional standards and are prepared to undertake regular training. This is a voluntary scheme that relies on landlords wanting to become accredited and to enrol themselves on training courses.

The Landlords Forum is an open forum for all Haringey landlords. It is used as a platform for networking and providing advice and guidance, education and training. It is held several times a year, but attendance is voluntary and the Forum is usually attended by interested and professional landlords.

Although the Landlord Accreditation Scheme and the Landlords Forum have an important role to play in encouraging private landlords to manage and maintain their accommodation to a good standard – and to encourage and disseminate goo practice – both rely on the goodwill of landlords. They are unlikely to have an impact on non-compliant landlords whose HMOs are not subject to Mandatory licensing.

Mandatory HMO Licensing

Mandatory licensing only applies to larger HMOs that have 3 or more storeys and are occupied by five or more people forming two or more households.

Although the existing Mandatory HMO Licensing Scheme affects all licensable HMOs in the borough, Mandatory HMO licensing applies to only a small percentage of the HMO stock in Haringey and does not apply to smaller HMOs.

Mandatory HMO licensing will not tackle the problems associated with non-licensable HMOs (including smaller HMOs) that are badly managed, are not being properly maintained or are causing a nuisance, especially in the Wards of Northumberland Park, Tottenham Hale, Bruce Grove, Tottenham Green and Seven Sisters

Reacting to housing related complaints

The Council’s Housing Improvement Team (Private Sector) includes a group of Officers whose responsibility it is to react to housing related complaints.

Unfortunately, a reactive inspection-based service is resource intensive and works on the assumption that compliance and improvement will normally require enforcement action following a period of extensive investigation to identify responsible owners.

Some complaints may require investigation and enforcement by a number of services and organisations, using various pieces of legislation. Due to the large volume of complaints received, complaints are prioritised on the basis of a risk assessment.

Although there is scope to target HMOs in a designated area, this would still be resource intensive if an Additional HMO Licensing Scheme is not introduced, since the Council would still be responsible for finding the HMOs.

As it is an offence for owners to be renting HMOs without a licence, Additional HMO Licensing places the onus on landlords to identify themselves as the responsible owner and to provide details of all HMO properties that require licensing. It is possible, therefore, to target portfolio owners about all of their properties rather than on an individual basis through a reactive approach.

Selective Licensing

Section 80 of the Housing Act 2004 allows local authorities to apply for selective licensing of privately rented properties in areas that are experiencing low housing demand and/or suffering from anti-social behaviour.

In order for a scheme to be approved, a selective licensing scheme must be shown to be co-ordinated with an authority's wider strategies to deal with anti-social behaviour and regeneration. At this stage, no decisions have yet been made on whether or not selective licensing is something that should be introduced in Haringey.

It is envisaged, however, that any scheme will need to be part of a wider joined up enforcement approach that aims to work together with service partners and other regulatory service providers such as the Police, Fire Authority and Border Agency.

Reasons for Decision

Section 56 of theHousing Act 2004 allows local housing authorities to designate the area of their district or an area within their district as subject to additional licensing as long as they have considered all of the criteria set out in this report.

Under section 58 of the Housing Act, it stipulates that designation of such an area falls within a description of designations for which the Secretary of State has issued general approval dated 30th March 2010. This means that, following a minimum of 10 weeks consultation with persons who are likely to be affected, every local housing authority in England has the Secretary of State's general approval to designate an area as subject to additional licensing.

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The proposed Additional HMO Licensing Scheme for the Wards of Northumberland Park Tottenham Hale, Bruce Grove, Tottenham Green and Seven Sisters will enable the Council to improve the overall standard of HMO accommodation in those Wards, support the regeneration of Tottenham and target its resources at those HMOs and landlords that are causing the most concern.