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Liverpool City Council in 12 week consultation re Licensing Landlords
The plans would mean that all landlords who privately rent properties in the city would require a licence for each of their rented properties, allowing the council to determine whether the landlords was “a fit and proper person” to manage their properties.
The council insists the scheme will drive up standards of tenancy management, identify poor landlords and secure “a consistent level of responsible property management”.
Liverpool council first suggested such a scheme back in 2012; now – apparently pending the outcome of the consultation – it is likely to come into force in 2015.
Critics say only compliant landlords will register, and the scheme will unwittingly force poor landlords ‘under the radar’. They says a low-cost accreditation scheme would allow the council to identify the good landlords and to concentrate their resources on chasing the genuinely bad ones.
LAT supports measures to clean up all aspects of the letting and sales sectors but licensing schemes of the kind proposed by Liverpool do not give councils additional powers to act against poor conditions. Instead, they simply give the authorities the opportunity to fine those who fail to join the schemes.
Milton Keynes council recently abandoned its licensing proposals after concerted local opposition.
