Under its new selective licence scheme Oxford City Council will start looking for unlicensed private rented sector properties from 1st January 2023 as it exceeds initial expectations on numbers of so called "early bird" licence applications from private landlords and managing agents.

The council says that it had expected around 7,000 early bird applications, which attracted a discount on the standards selective licence application fee. Instead, they received 10,093 applications and have warned that any landlords who have not yet applied for a licence to operate a rental property will need to pay the standard fee. The council also warns that those landlords and relevant managing agents who have not applied may, from 1st January 2023, be at risk of enforcement action by the council which could result in significant financial penalties being imposed.

The current standard licence fee of £480 will apply only for the first year of the scheme after which, from 1st September 2023, the fee will increase to £1,100 unless the property is newly let within 12 weeks of the licence application.

Almost 50% of homes in Oxford are now in the private rented sector and a 2020 survey estimated that a fifth of those PRS homes could contain a serious hazard. In the 5 years to 2020 the council received 3,360 complaints from PRS tenants concerning around 3,000 properties, served 2,451 public health notices and carried out over 4,000 investigations into anti-social behaviour connected to private rented sector housing.

Cllr. Linda Smith, Cabinet Member for Housing, said it was great news for tenants that there had been more than 10,000 early bird selective licence applications and advised landlords who hadn't yet applied that they'd "missed the early bird but don't miss the boat".

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