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.

Housing standards, and the capacity of local authorities to enforce them, are rightly, but for all the wrong reasons, in the headlines at the moment. With this in mind, it’s instructive to look at what local authorities can achieve, in the private rented sector, via prosecutions and their attendant penalties. So, here are the top 5 housing enforcement cases of 2022.

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.

The London borough of Merton's council has opened a public consultation on plans to bring in private rented sector property licensing across 7 its wards. Although the council already requires, under mandatory HMO licensing rules, it is now proposing to start using selective licensing covering single household rented properties, to bring in additional licensing to cover smaller HMO properties and also to require any conversion of a property into an HMO, of whatever size, to first be granted planning permission from the council

The private rented sector in the London borough of Wandsworth is now estimated to constitute up to a third of all housing stock in the area with the council saying that the "standards of delivery within the private rented sector vary widely" and that whilst most landlords are responsible "there exists a rogue landlord element that deliver substandard ... and sometimes dangerous dwellings".

Following on from a joint letter to the Prime Minister from the leaders of Kent and Hampshire county councils warning that both councils would be likely to be considering section 114 notices "within the next year or so", the Local Government Association (LGA) has also issued a dire warning about the additional cost pressures impacting on local authority service provision.