Oldham Council has approved a new selective licensing scheme covering private rented single household properties across 7 wards in the town with a licence fee set at £582 per property.

Subject, due to its size, to confirmation by Secretary of State Michael Gove MP, a new selective licence scheme is due to start in the London borough of Haringey in late 2022.

Ealing Council is to commence its new additional and selective licensing schemes from April 1st 2022.

The Govt has published a factsheet, in English, Ukrainian and Russian language versions, for individuals and families fleeing from Ukraine to the UK detailing the process to be followed for their entry to the UK.

The Dept for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities has announced a package of measures in line with its wider plans to reform standards and regulation in the rented housing sector that will see stronger enforcement against "failing social landlords".

A husband and wife couple operating an HMO above a shop in Northwood in the London borough of Hillingdon have been found guilty at Uxbridge Magistrates Court of "a string of offences" in breach of housing and building laws.

The LGA is publishing information and best practice guidance for Local Authorities and others seeking to ensure that accommodation provided by sponsors in the UK is suitable and safe for occupation by refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Luton Council's South Ward selective and additional licensing scheme will come into effect on 1st April.

The LGA in its statement responding to Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Spring Statement has said that "The continued model of relying on council tax raising powers to increase councils' core spending power is not sustainable or fair on local taxpayers or those who rely on council services."

Cornwall Council is running a public consultation (which closes on 27th May 2022) on how it enforces against private rented sector landlords as it looks to update its Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy.

The housing market has gone through phenomenal changes since the millennium. In that time private rented sector households have doubled to 4.4 million, there are now an estimated 1.5 million private landlords, the social housing sector has withered on the vine and – the 2004 Housing Act came into force putting in place a licensing system that Local Authorities could use as part of their private rented housing regulatory toolkit

The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has published eligibility guidance to support and encourage domestic property owners and owners of small commercial premises commissioning low carbon heating technologies, such as heat pumps, through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

A Liverpool landlord (Step One (NW) Ltd) has been fined £20,000 plus £4,747.61 in costs and a £190 victim surcharge for breaches of the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006. Council officers attended at the property, a large HMO housing vulnerable occupants, after an anonymous complaint.

Birmingham council has approved a selective licence scheme which will cover up to 50,000 properties across 25 wards in the city and which is set to start on 1st April 2023.

The Home Office has announced the opening of the 4th round bidding process for access to the £150 million safer streets fund. Access to this round of bidding is open to police & crime commissioners, Local Authorities, British Transport Police and "Eligible Civil Society Organisations".

Durham Council's new selective licensing scheme is due to start on April 1st and will run until 31st March 2027. Private landlords with single household properties (that don't qualify for an exemption from licensing) within certain post codes will be required to apply for a licence to operate and rent out their property otherwise they will be committing a criminal offence.

Homes for Ukraine Scheme FAQ guidance provided by the Dept for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities appears to allay concerns within the private sector landlord community that if a person in the UK sponsors and accommodates people fleeing the Russian army's invasion of Ukraine, that person could be liable for operating an unlicensed HMO.

A landlord in Haringey, north London, has been fined £5000 after receiving but ignoring repeated warnings that he was required to obtain a licence to continue operating and letting out an HMO in the borough.

In an 8th March licensing update West Lindsey District Council advises that it has halted its public consultation on the renewal and expansion of its recently ended selective licensing scheme.

On 30th March, Government will be transferring funds to Local Authorities in England so that they can begin to pay the £150 council tax rebate to help households in council tax bands A to D cope with the current rise in energy costs.

Originally scheduled for broadcast on 24th February but rescheduled for obvious reasons when Russia invaded Ukraine this episode of ITV's Tonight programme (8.30 p.m.) will see the channel's political correspondent, Daniel Hewitt, follow private rented sector specialist Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action (who estimates that residential repossession actions will reach 80,000 during 2022) through the tenant eviction process.

The Home Office has published an updated "User Guide" on how to carry out right to rent checks and what documents are acceptable.

Where Selective Licensing is concerned it’s a true to say that strong opinions are held, either for or against, by different stakeholders in an area that has been designated for a Selective Licensing scheme. Landlords often (but not always) seem to fall into the “against” camp.

A landlord in Scunthorpe has been fined for a second time by North Lincolnshire Council.

In 2019 an independent review carried out for the Government concluded that Selective Licensing is an effective tool for use by Local Authorities in dealing with private rented sector housing problems in their areas. But, and certainly in the current pandemic related financial situation, can partnership working be an improvement on the current way of working for Local Authorities that decide to use the Selective Licensing tool available to them?

The Local Government Association has published a case study from Gateshead Council showing how the council is supporting people with debt and financial problems in its area.

Estate Agent Hamptons warns of financial pressures involving cost of living increases for private tenants.

The Levelling Up, Housing & Communities select committee, made up of backbench MPs, has said that [buy to let] "landlords are no more to blame than other leaseholders for historic .... safety defects"

Walsall Borough Council have started a public consultation on a new proposed additional licensing scheme covering 5 wards in the town.

In a 2nd February 2022 decision by the Upper Tier Tribunal (Lands Chamber) in Global 100 Ltd v Jimenez & Ors the tribunal dismissed an appeal by Global 100 Ltd against the First Tier Tribunal decision that an empty office building occupied by Property Guardians was an unlicensed HMO and subject to a £6,251.85 rent repayment order.

On top of other forces causing a squeeze on household incomes this year the conflict in Ukraine, according to a new report by the Resolution Foundation think tank, could cause a further £1000 drop in non-pensioner household income this year as compared with 2020/2021.

Minster for Rough Sleeping and Housing, Eddie Hughes MP, has written to english Local Authority leaders about the rough sleeping "snapshot" carried out annually by the Govt.

A Burnley landlord has pleaded guilty to 4 counts of being "a person managing a house .... required to be licensed under Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004, but which was not so licensed".

Govt guidance on how people can complain about the service they have received from the DWP directly or an organisation that provides public services on behalf of the DWP.

Research carried out on behalf of the NRLA project that London will need 83,000 new private rented homes to meet current Govt targets and satisfy growing demand from renters.

That almost all Local Authority selective licensing schemes run over budget is a fact that has been confirmed by the MHCLG (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government...

Although the Green Homes Grant Scheme has closed (to new applicants) there are still home owners or landlords who will need to redeem grant vouchers so that contractors who, under the grant scheme, installed energy efficiency upgrades in a dwelling can be paid.

The Home Office has published the latest versions of its right to rent Codes of Practice for landlords, agents and homeowners.

Pointing out that the UK has the oldest housing stock in Europe (for example, 22% built pre-1919 and 11% built interwar between 1919 and 1944) the CIH (Chartered Institute of Housing) says that it's 2022 Housing Review (30th edition, to be published on 28th March 2022) will point out that faster progress is needed if the Govt wishes to meet either its short or long term energy efficiency and decarbonisation targets.

The estate and letting agent professional body Propertymark has marked the start of National Empty Homes Week (28th February to 6th March) by writing to the Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove MP, calling on him to provide incentives to owners and landlords of vacant dwellings for bring the empty homes back into use.