Agenda item

Report of the Director of Environment and Resident Experience.

A Scrutiny Review by the Housing, Planning & Development Scrutiny Panel has been undertaken in respect of Landlord Licensing In the Private Rented Sector. A set of recommendation have been made for response by Cabinet.

The Chair of Housing, Planning and Development Scrutiny Panel will introduce the Scrutiny Review .

The Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Private Renters, and Planning will then provide the Cabinet response.

The Leader invited the Chair of the Housing, Planning and Development Scrutiny Panel to introduce her Scrutiny review report on Landlord Licensing in the Private Rented Sector.

The meeting noted that the recommendations reflected strong support for the work of the Council's private sector housing team and a desire to see its capacity and impact grow with an even greater emphasis on how the Council can support private renters.

Cllr Worrell was pleased that most of the recommendations had been accepted and continued to focus her presentation on responding to the recommendations that had not been accepted or partially agreed.

-       Although it was noted that Stroud, Green and Hornsey wards, at the time of evidence gathering, were not able to meet the same criteria that the east of the borough met for the selective scheme, it was still felt that the evidence base in these wards and possibly others should be revisited. In particular, the criteria for poor property conditions or antisocial behaviour Therefore, it was felt that a separate scheme could be created so that more households could benefit from a landlord licencing scheme and further hoped that this could be taken forward in the future.

-       In relation to response to recommendations two and six, further information was sought about the Council's legal interpretation of the use of resources being limited to enforcement of compliance with the scheme and whether the Council could assist tenants to pursue rent repayment orders similar to other Council's use resources for this purpose. Also, lobbying the government for there to be more flexibility, which the Panel have also recommended.

-       On the response to recommendation three, Cllr Worrell welcomed the refreshed and updated private sector housing team web pages and queried why the response stopped short of adopting a private renters charter and asked that this be reconsidered given the positive message to renters and advocacy organisations about our priorities.

-       With regards to private renters engaging with housing needs offices if they are deemed at risk of homelessness, Cllr Worrell, on behalf of the Scrutiny Panel, felt thattenancy relations officers could help deescalate challenging situations for private renters at an earlier stage and would wish to know more about why this role was felt to achieve limited outcomes and why the current approach was favoured.

-       On the responses to recommendation seven, in relation to waiting times for inspections, further consideration was asked to be given to the current level of resource as more staff could result in more fee income and enforcement activity to fund the work.

-       Referring to the response to recommendation 8, the importance of having genuinely random spot cheques on properties before a licence was granted, and not just on those suspected as being non-compliant. The reasoning for the recommendation was further outlined and explained that this could drive up standards as a whole before people come to apply for a licence or during the process if there is a perceived possibility that any property could first be inspected.

-       Referring to the response to recommendation 12, Cllr Worrell welcomed some more information about the web pages content and particularly the anonymous reporting function. There was also a need to ensure that tenants’ rights were being regularly promoted via the Council's communications channels.

Cllr Worrell concluded by remarking positively about the Council's increased focus on private renters in Haringey and scrutiny were keen to continue working with Cabinet to make this as effective as possible.

The Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Private Renters and Planning responded as follows:

•  Cabinet had accepted the vast majority of the recommendations and recommendation 1 would be something that was looked into in the next cycle of selective property licensing review. There may be a misunderstanding between the inspections which the Council carried out which were at random but were not in person.

• Recommendation 2, regarding the provision of support for tenants around rent repayment orders, had been agreed, but the Council was hoping to procure a partnering arrangement with one of the advocacy organisations who would support tenants with their rent repayment orders. Part of the legislation was that tenants were able to claim back the rent repayment orders. The Council felt that within the licensing fee, it was something that worth the expense. Most of the advocacy services operated akin to a ‘no win no fee’ system. It was still important to be able to refer tenants to the advocacy service and being able to track how particular tenants had progressed through the rent repayment order. They would also then be able to take rent repayment order claims on behalf of the local authority. Cases where there was Universal Credit being paid as rent would be taken on as well.

• The web pages had been updated since the original scrutiny review and were continually under review and updates are ongoing. There was a new format, a renter’s page and a specific landlord's page. There are also generic pages. An attempt had been made to link to the voluntary sector or third-party organisations to provide advice and guidance where possible. They were also in line with gov.uk web pages wherever possible, so the advice was consistent.

• In relation to the inspection programs, the Council performed random spot checks, The IT system put in place since 2019 allowed the Council to highlight a series of random addresses and ask landlords to supply, for example, up-to-date energy performance certificates, gas certificates or electrical safety certificates. This was also an objective within the actual selective property licensing scheme.

• The random spot checks were done as part of physical inspections, some of these were complaint led or they were ones where when the application was received by the licence applicant or if there were concerns over the information that had been provided as part of that application. It was noted that rather than just issuing the licence, the Council would arrange to visit the property so that it could be matched against the application. Quite often, those licences would then be issued with a specific schedule of works that the landlord had to carry out as part of the licensing process with a date and time given.

• The random spot checks were specifically written in as part of the objectives of the selective property licensing scheme as a requirement of the Department for Levelling Up.

• There had been problems with recruitment. The Council had since recruited three more Compliance Inspecting Officers and was on track to complete all of the compliance inspections prior to the existing scheme ending so all the properties would have had an inspection. The Council managed 246 compliance inspections last month which was an improvement compared to previous years.

• The Council were also looking at how it could recruit more Compliance Officers by doing in-house training. There were also two apprenticeship posts to train for Environmental Health Officer positions.

• There had been a backlog of inspections due to the coronavirus period and this was subsequently followed by recruitment issues. However, if the new team was put in place as expected, there should be a good team in place for compliance inspection processes.

• The web pages were still a work in progress and their importance as a communications channel recognised as the private rented sector was an important type of accommodation partly because 40% of residents lived in the private rented sector.

RESOLVED

1. To consider the recommendations agreed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee attached at Appendix 1.

2. To agree the response to these recommendations attached at Appendix 2.

Reasons for decision

Under the agreed terms of reference, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) can assist the Council and the Cabinet in its budgetary and policy framework through conducting in-depth analysis of local policy issues and can make recommendations for service development or improvement.

The Committee may:

(a) Review the performance of the Council in relation to its policy objectives,

performance targets and/or particular service areas.

(b) Conduct research to assist in specific investigations. This may involve surveys, focus groups, public meetings and/or site visits.

(c) Make reports and recommendations, on issues affecting the authority’s area, or its inhabitants, to Full Council, its committees or Sub-Committees, the Executive, or to other appropriate external bodies.

The Housing, Planning & Development Scrutiny Panel agreed to review and scrutinise the Council’s approach to licensing in the private rented sector, in order to understand how effective this was. On 28th November 2022, the committee agreed the terms of reference for this project. Evidence gathering to fulfil this review took place between February and September 2023.

On 27th November 2023, the committee agreed a set of recommendations on service development or improvement in respect of landlord licensing, private renters and general matters relating to the private rented sector, for the consideration of Cabinet. (appendix 2)

Alternative options considered.

None.