Agenda item

This report aims to provide the Panel with an overview of additional licensing, the results of the evidence collection and consultation exercise.

The Associate Director for Housing introduced this item to the Panel. He explained that the primary purpose of HMO licensing is to improve housing standards. He added that it allows the Local Housing Authority (LHA) to ensure that conditions, amenity & fire safety standards comply with current legislative standards, as such the principal beneficiaries of licensing are the tenants. 

He informed them that In order to ensure that the Council takes a lawful decision and therefore one that is resistant to a legal challenge by way of judicial review, it must be satisfied that the legislative test for the designation is met. An evidence base has been gathered for the introduction of additional licensing.

Councillor June Player asked if bullet point 10 on page 12 of Appendix 3 was a reference to garages.

The Environmental Health Officer replied that it was.

Councillor June Player suggested that a stronger term be used in bullet point 12 to replace ‘All reasonable steps’. She also asked how the Licence Holder would monitor garden maintenance.

The Environmental Health Officer replied that it would be dependent on the nature of the property. He added that the onus would be on the landlord to monitor the property and that the Council would act upon any concerns.

Councillor June Player commented regarding bullet point 20 that tenants should be asked to sign an agreement rather than simply being ‘made aware’ of the ‘Bath and North East Somerset undertaking of good practice’.

The Environmental Health Officer replied that the wording of this bullet point was amended after consultation. He added that a copy of the recycling and rubbish collection notice must be displayed in the property.

Councillor Will Sandry commented that he great sympathy for the situation Councillor Player has in her ward. He added that the reality was that houses were not intended for this use. He said that he hoped this legislation would help the Council deal with amateur landlords and improve the standards of many of the properties. He asked if the evidence that had been gathered would be robust enough against a legal challenge.

The Associate Director for Housing replied that officers had worked hard with our own lawyers and a housing barrister to make it as robust as possible.

Councillor Brian Simmons asked if the Fire Authority were required to investigate properties as part of the process.

The Environmental Health Officer replied that no reference had been made to it within the legislation. He added that the Council are the lead authority for fire safety in houses of this nature and officers do have a close working relationship with the Fire Authority.

Councillor Gerry Curran commented that he felt the Council had a duty to its tenants to ask to see all such safety certificates.

The Associate Director for Housing replied that certificates would be asked for as part of the Licensing process.

Councillor Steve Hedges commented that he felt there should be a way to amend the scheme after it becomes adopted.

The Environmental Health Officer sought clarification on this point raised by Councillor Hedges following the conclusion of the meeting and has issued the following response - After taking legal advice it is felt that the scheme cannot be changed following a designation by Cabinet.  A legislative process was followed based on evidence and consultation and changes to the designation would have to go through a similar process again.  However, amendments to add clarity are possible.

Mr Anthony Masters asked the Chair if he could address the Panel.

The Chair agreed that he could.

He said that he would like to extend his thanks to the officers for their thorough report, and to the councillors for the chance to speak. He said his speech would focus on the nature of the problem with HMOs and the efficacy of the proposed solution.

He commented that the Council is unsure about how many HMOs there are in Bath, and believes their previous estimates may be understating the total amount by 50%. The original evidence report has a graph showing a correlation between a ward’s supposed number of HMOs and the number of domestic waste complaints and street sweeping requests. However, the Housing Act 2004 demands local councils must collect evidence on the “HMOs of that description”, that is, what type of HMO the council wishes to license - HMOs with shared facilities. It is noted “no correlation was found between HMOs with shared facilities and service requests.”

Ultimately, licensing is a trade-off: the increase of both accommodation quality and management, in exchange for higher rents and less competition between landlords. Given that Bath has some of the highest rents in the country, this balance should be carefully considered. The problems with HMO management in these wards appear to be quite particular and isolated. There are major problems with infant licensing systems, as they fail to cover the licensed area and the new rules are weakly enforced: only the future will reveal if these serious issues are ameliorated. For now, the local council should continue to use their accreditation scheme to raise housing standards.

A full copy of this speech can be found on the Panel’s Minute Book.

The Chair on behalf of the Panel thanked the officers for their report, the contents of which were duly noted.