Issue details

Housing Services currently charge fees to recover the reasonable costs of providing a number of housing enabling, enforcement, licensing, housing register and homelessness services

The legislative framework to support the Charging Policy is contained in the following Acts of parliament:
Housing Act 2004 – power to recover costs associated with the administration of HMO licensing and housing conditions enforcement activity;
Housing Act 1996 - power to establish Nomination Agreements and the recovery of costs associated with the provision of temporary accommodation;
Local Government Act 2003 – general power to charge for discretionary services.
The current fees for these services are detailed in the Housing Services Charging Policy 2025. Following a review of the cost of providing services it is proposed to make the following changes in line with inflation to reflect the increased cost of providing these services:
The rationale of the uplifted charges is supported by the following principles. Firstly, that it is either a statutory requirement or reasonable to make the charge. Secondly, that the costs are set at recovering some, or all, of our expenditure associated with the activity which have increased, rather than generating a surplus. Finally, that the charges are articulated in a policy that is clear, accurate and freely available.