So I know a few of you have already contacted the Studentcircle Lettings Team to find our views on the recent email sent out by Coventry City Council about the licensing scheme.

If you haven’t heard about it, Coventry City Council are currently developing proposals for a Selective Licensing scheme and a citywide HMO Additional Licensing Scheme. Under The Housing Act 2004, it includes powers whereby the Council may consult on introducing Selective Licensing and Additional Licensing schemes, either for a specific area or for the whole of the city.

The Council opened a consultation on 9 January 2019 which will run for 10 weeks until 20 March 2019, they are attempting to seek as many views as possible from tenants to landlords, so please do give your feedback on their proposals.

To take part in this and to read more information please see the links below:

All in all we are not against it at all as it can only benefit us, however there are a few issues which do upset the apple cart. It seems as if landlords are being attacked from every corner with the reduction of Mortgage interest relief, standard tapered wear and tear, increases in SDLT.

With all these added costs to landlords in addition to the letting agent admin fee being banned, I would predict rental prices going up, this is at a time when inflation is increasing and the markets are slowing. In our own personal opinion, what the government is doing makes sense but they need to be very careful as it is a fine line.

Unfortunately, the people that will suffer are the people at the bottom end of the market. Landlords aren’t going to let their properties go for less, and as such you will still get rogue landlords, which despite having plenty of legislation and laws in place which are designed to help tackle rogue landlords, anti social behaviour and disrepair – they’re still operating.

Having spoken to a few of my business associates as well as solicitors and accountants, it seems that there are a lot more unregistered landlords than there are landlords who are registered and pay tax. In our opinion, this is just part of a pincer move to crack down on unregistered landlords and increase tax revenue and to catch all the non-licensed non-tax-paying landlords.

That being said, it seems as if the council has taken into account that they should reward good landlords, the kind of landlord that wants to provide a clean, safe property for someone to live in, someone who sticks to the rules of law, they have taken this into account by reducing the cost of applying for a 5 year additional license to just £640.00

The Housing Act 2004 requires that every licence issued under an additional Licensing scheme must include the following `mandatory conditions`:

·        Provide gas safety certificate – annually and upon request 

·        Keep electrical appliances and furniture safe – supply certificates 

·        Install smoke alarms on each storey of house

·        Install CO alarm in any habitable room with solid fuel

·        Supply written statement of terms of occupancy to tenants

That will also introduce under Section 65 of the Housing Act 2004, that the Council may include conditions which it considers are appropriate for:

·        Regulating the management, use or occupation, and

·        Condition and contents

 Since I started Studentcircle Lettings ,I have truly seen some horrific sights as to what some landlords have thought have been acceptable to rent out. As a business model, we will quite happily refuse a landlord if required, as we all need to be on the same page, as part of our job is to advise and help landlords stay on the right side of the law. if you have any views or questions, please  feel free to drop me an email otherwise I may see some of you at the upcoming meetings.

TO CHECK TO SEE IF YOUR PROPERTY IS IN A POTENTIAL LICENSABLE AREA CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

http://maps.coventry.gov.uk/connect/analyst/mobile/#/main?mapcfg=selective  

You can take part in this consultation and share your views about the proposals by completing an online questionnaire at www.coventry.gov.uk/propertylicensing where you will also find more information about the detailed proposals and other supporting documentation.

The Council will also be organising a series of public events to which we would encourage you to attend. Council officers will be present to explain the proposals and answer any questions you may have. These meetings will take place over the ten week consultation period and further details can be found at www.coventry.gov.uk/propertylicensing