Derbyshire Dales District Council, Amber Valley Borough Council and Erewash Borough Council will share the funding to target poor quality PRS housing standards over a 2 year project period. The partnership project should enable the councils to each inspect 500 PRS properties per 12 month period over the 2 years of the study in order improve housing enforcement outcomes in the PRS.

Middlesbrough Council is carrying out a public consultation on extending the private rented sector selective licensing scheme currently in place in the Newport area of the borough. The consultation will run until 30th January 2023.

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health has written to Michael Gove MP saying that the Government needs to make it easier for councils to use selective licensing conditions as a method of housing enforcement.

After carrying out a 3 month public consultation which received over 1000 responses, Portsmouth Council is to bring in additional licensing of smaller private rented sector HMO (houses in multiple occupation) properties with the scheme set to start on 1st September 2023.

The manner in which increasing numbers of local authorities are rolling out additional licensing schemes covering smaller HMO (Houses in Multiple Occupation) properties in the private rented sector has been questioned by Theresa Wallace, Chair of the Lettings Industry Council, in an article in the Daily Telegraph [paywall].

Lambeth Council officers inspected a private rented sector house in the Streatham area of the borough and found that between July 2019 and January 2020 it had been occupied, as an illegal bedsit, by more than 5 tenants. The total amount of rent per month that the landlord received was £4,240.

Michael Gove MP has announced that 3 councils have received a share of £14 million to roll out projects aimed at finding new approaches to improving housing standards in the private rented sector (PRS) and to target better housing enforcement action.

The private rented sector landlord had used Facebook to publicise his tenant's rent arrears to her friends and family. He also included personal details such as her address and place of employment in the post - which he subsequently deleted. However the tenant complained to the council's Housing Enforcement team.

Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), has written to the leaders and chief executives of all local authorities in England with a "Direction" under section 3(3) of the Housing Act 2004.

Boston Council's Environment and Performance Committee is to consider a proposal to bring in PRS selective licensing at a meeting scheduled for tomorrow (22nd November 2022). The licensing proposal is put forward via a review report from the council's Safer Communities team.