Afternoon all,
So here is the latest from the OCC on licensing for landlords:
LANDLORDS
across the city could face new restrictions under plans to
require licenses for thousands of homes in Oxford according
to reports in the Oxford Mail today.
Oxford City
Council says it wants to extend its houses in
multiple occupation (HMOs) licensing scheme to include all types of rented
properties.
It requires
landlords to make sure their properties meet fire, electric and
gas safety standards and be in a good state of repair, with the council able to
require them to make improvements after inspections.
The
new scheme would apply to all rented properties in just 20 per cent of the
city at first but the local authority could apply to the Government
to extend it further.
It
is estimated there are about 15,000 rented properties in the city, with about
10,000 not covered by a licensing scheme.
The
council said it already carried out about 250 inspections of private
rented properties each year, but had not decided yet whether it would
require inspections of all properties before licensing them.
It
is reported that landlords supported higher standards but warned extra
costs would be passed on to tenants.
Since
the HMO licensing scheme was introduced in 2011, inspectors have carried out
almost 20,000 visits to properties and responded to about
3,000 complaints.
They
have also placed 80,000 requirements for improvements on landlords, which the
council estimates has led to more than £3.2m being spent. The council says
it recognizes ‘good’ landlords and rewards them with lower fees, as well
as five-year licenses.
The meat of these proposals is, as of yet, unknown so no doubt there is more to follow on this and I will keep you posted as I hear more.
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