Selective licensing? Try blanket licensing for all Waltham Forest landlords
AFS Team·21 November 2013·3 min read
Waltham Forest Council "wants to designate Waltham Forest as a Selective Licensing Area." The council wants to hear the views of landlords and tenants alike in order to gather as much data as they can before the Friday 24 January 2014 deadline.
The council states that all questionnaires are available online whilst paper copies are available via email, selective.licensing@walthamforest.gov.uk, or alternatively call the council direct on 0208 496 3000 to request a copy direct.
Selective Licensing, for those landlords who are unaware, is a regulatory framework councils use to help increase standards in health and safety and also to help combat anti-social behaviour. The scheme has been adopted by nearly 700 councils throughout the UK from Northumbria to Cornwall.
Waltham Forest argues "the licence would have conditions attached to it such as making sure that the home is kept safe, that the landlord must get references for new tenants before allowing them to rent that home or that the landlord must deal with any complaints of antisocial behaviour such as playing loud music or engaging in criminal activity in the property."
Waltham Forest undertook a survey, which found a large number of residents where unimpressed by the state of private rental properties in the borough. The scheme has been attacked by the RLA as helping to drive-up costs for landlords whilst not mitigating against 'rouge' landlords.
The plans could impact on several hundred student properties. Waltham Forest is a popular area for students in London due to its location to London's top Universities.
However, the RLA believes the costs associated with the scheme could generate a profit for the council. The RLA has attacked such 'profit-making' behaviour at other councils - notably Sunderland and Blackpool.
