After Leeds City Council introduced selective licensing in two of its wards in 2020 the resulting “closer working” between the council and allied agencies - enabled by the licensing schemes - ended up with “the seizure of over £50 million in Cannabis across the city as a whole.” Now the council is looking to extend licensing across five more of its ‘priority’ wards, in part, as a result of this licensing success.

It’s probably fair to say that the majority of the public have never heard of the “Government Digital [by default] Strategy” published in 2012. But then, it was meant for government departments, rather than the public, in order to drive efficiency and financial savings in the provision of public services.

Peterborough City Council’s new Selective Licensing scheme, which covers 10 of the city’s wards and was launched in March, has received over 7,000 applications with over 1,750 draft licences issued and over 500 final licences issued to landlords operating private rented sector properties in the city.

Licensing schemes are an essential tool for elevating rental housing standards. At their core, Selective and Additional licensing schemes are all about ensuring better living conditions for tenants, a goal everyone can stand behind. The real conversation often centres on the most effective ways to achieve these standards. Based on our hands-on experience, the central pillar of any successful licensing scheme lies in rigorous property inspections that ensure tenants have a safe place to live.

With the recent statements by the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves MP, about the £22 billion “black hole” ‘discovered’ in the nation’s finances (and her consequent remedies) and the focus of the Secretary of State for Housing, Angela Rayner MP, firmly set on a huge house building programme fuelled by reform of the planning system, private rented sector reform seems to have taken somewhat of a backseat on the journey to resolving the national housing crisis.

The pomp and circumstance of the King’s speech during the state opening of Parliament sees the formalised beginning of the new parliament and a new legislative programme. Whilst the new Government is hoping for an increase in the economy’s growth rate to help fund the across the board “National renewal” that they wish to see, for the moment the path to making a difference looks like it will be via regulation with nearly 40 new legislative bills laid out in the speech.

A new Government is in place and Parliament will be swearing in MPs on Tuesday 9th July. There is a new Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities and a new legislative programme will be officially unveiled during the King’s Speech on 17th July. The current stabilisation of interest rates and inflation levels, although still higher than through the last decade, will hopefully help create some economic stability but huge fiscal challenges remain.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that around 67% of residential properties in England and 65% in Wales (March 2023) currently have a valid Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), a certificate required when a property is built, sold or rented out. They are also required to be submitted by landlords to the Local Authority when the landlord is applying for a licence under a selective licensing scheme.

The Renters (Reform) Bill completed its most recent legislative stage in the House of Commons last Wednesday (24th April) with around 200 amendments and is now set to progress to the House of Lords.

In an important case for councils and PRS landlords the Upper Tier Tribunal (UTT) has allowed an appeal by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council after the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) invalidated a £21,000 civil penalty imposed on a private rented sector HMO landlord.