Already having a selective licensing scheme, Southend Council's proposed new "supplementary" housing standards enforcement policy will apply to the PRS across the city, particularly to HHSRS category 2 hazards.

The city's Councillors will discuss the proposal at a Cabinet meeting on 12th January 2022 and the council says the new housing enforcement policy was drafted after a consultation exercise which showed public support for the strategy designed to "give the council greater powers to make sure health and safety standards are followed, with the ability to give fines of up to £30,000 for those landlords that don't comply. This particularly applies to category two hazards, as well as electrical safety standards and carbon monoxide regulations".

Cllr. Martin Terry, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, said "It has been clear for some time that we need to do something to regulate the standards within the private housing sector. And by better regulating the sector, the impact should have a ripple effect, with landlords improving their housing quality reducing their bills and increasing the value of their house and their investment, a boost to the local economy with the employment of local tradespeople and improved neighbourhoods".

The council's supplementary enforcement proposal report can be accessed here.

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