Oxford City Council has announced that the Govt has signed off on approval of the city's selective licence scheme which will cover the whole of the private rented sector in Oxford comprising 30,500 properties (49.3% of all homes in the city).

The council says that a fifth (6,200) of privately rented homes "could" have a "serious housing hazard".

The scheme will start on September 1st 2022 and will apply to any house occupied either under a single tenancy or licence to occupy (and which is not exempt from licensing) or under two or more tenancies or licences to occupy in respect of different dwellings contained in the house (none of which are exempt from licensing).

The licence fee will be £480 discounted to £400 for ("early bird") landlords applying within the first 3 months of the scheme going live. Licence applicants who are accredited landlords will pay a discounted fee of £280.

The Govt's approval of the city wide scheme was based on poor housing conditions data and the minister for housing (Eddie Hughes MP) has requested that the Govt be updated annually on the progress of the scheme.