Over recent months, councils all over the country have added charges and stripped away reliefs that have resulted in landlords paying more for the same services without any added value.
Landlord registration in Scotland showed 200,000 property investors have coughed up £11.2 million in fees in the past six years for nothing in return – just 11 bad landlords reported for prosecution in all that time.
Many councils have stopped council tax exemptions for empty homes, so landlords are having to pay the tax during voids.
Around 50 councils have introduced article 4 directions that require landlords to apply for planning permission for new houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) shared by three to five unrelated tenants.
Oxford has imposed a citywide landlord licensing scheme costing from £362 – with more than 3,000 landlords signed up so far – which adds up to just over £1 million in fees collected.
Now, councillors in Southend, Essex, want to charge landlords a £400 admin fee for doing their job when bad landlords refuse to comply with notices like improvement notices, prohibition orders and management orders.
Jacqui Lansley, head of community strategy and development, said the move would encourage landlords to comply with the orders and raise money for the council, which has a £10 million budget deficit.
“Wherever possible we seek to work cooperatively with landlords and managing agents to resolve problems informally,” she said.
“However, in those cases where landlords refuse to comply, these charges should help deter them from not maintaining their properties.”
“The new charges relate to enforcement work undertaken by the council where informal enforcement and liaison with a landlord has proved unsuccessful and a formal enforcement notice or order has proved necessary.”
The council calculated the admin fee based on the number of officer hours involved in serving orders and notices.
