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Pensioner landlord risks being criminalised if blanket licensing goes ahead
A landlord has spelled out just how devastating the consequences of a blanket licensing scheme will be if it goes ahead.
She will have to sell her property and the tenant will lose their home. The landlord may also well risk being criminalised.
The landlord, a pensioner, has a one-bed studio rental property in Croydon, where the council is planning to bring in mandatory licensing for all properties on October 1.
She said that her property brings in £450 per month, compared with a £750 licence fee which would last for five years, but is payable up-front.
The landlord said: “I literally cannot afford it. But in any case there are no issues with small landlords such as myself who look after our properties and our tenants.
“I will have no option but to sell up.
“I have a very good tenant, but one who is on average earnings.
“If I raise the rent to cover the cost of the licence, the tenant would have to move out and then I would probably get someone less good who may think they are over-paying on rent and not treat the property with the same respect.
“I bought the property six years ago as a boost to my pension and I am sure there are many like me.”
The landlord said she had only found out about the licensing scheme through the local newspaper, when she also found out that she had missed an opportunity for an earlybird discount of £360.
She said: “Maybe the larger landlords were informed by the council of its plans, but not the smaller ones.
“I understand that as well as paying a licence fee, I would also have to book myself on a course and ask my current tenant for a reference. To me, that seems quite humiliating.”
She has now put £50 into a fighting fund being raised by Croydon Property Forum Ltd, which has been set up by landlords and agents to fight the council’s proposals.
An application for a Judicial Review is set to be heard on August 4.
If the case is not resolved by October 1, would she buy a licence? “I honestly don’t know, because I just cannot afford it, but if I don’t, I would be criminalised.
“At the same time, I want to be completely fair to my nice tenant. I would go and talk to them about the situation and give them plenty of time to find somewhere else and move out.
“It would then probably take me at least three or four months to actually sell up.
“The problem for small people like myself is that we simply don’t have a voice.”
She expressed the hope that agents and landlords may contribute to the fighting fund. Croydon Property Forum has so far raised just under half of the £60,000 it wants to mount its challenge.
