Agenda item

Having declared a disclosable pecuniary interest on the agenda item at the beginning of the meeting, Councillor Dixon left the Council Chamber before discussion commenced on ‘Selective Licensing in Cliftonville West and Margate Central.’

Richard Hopkins, Housing Regeneration Team Leader led discussion and gave a background to the subject. He highlighted the following that:

·  The current selective licensing scheme was a success;

·  Privately rented homes are required to be licenced and landlords are required to effectively manage their properties and keep them in a safe condition;

·  Enforcement of the current scheme started in 2013 after a judicial review that took two years to resolve;

·  About 1000 inspections have been carried out and about 66% of the properties inspected were found to have health hazards or failed to meet other licensing requirements;

·  21 landlords had been prosecuted successfully and had received fines of up to £20,000;

·  All fines are retained by the criminal justice system but TDC applies for a contribution to prosecution costs;

·  Landlords are required to take reasonable steps to ensure that Anti-Social Behaviour does not emanate from their properties;

·  It was observed that anti-social behaviour reported incidents had declined significantly (ie by 28.7% since 2011);

·  The current scheme is due to expire on 20 April 2016, five years after coming into force.

It was against this background that a proposal to renew the Selective Licensing Scheme to cover similar parts of Cliftonville West and Margate Central was developed. This proposal would include an additional 150 licensable properties. Richard Hopkins advised Members that a public consultation had been conducted over ten weeks and 72% of the respondents were in favour of renewing the Scheme as opposed to 18% who were against renewal. Public support had significantly increased from the previous consultation in 2010 which recorded 49% in favour and 44% against the Scheme.

Members agreed that the survey information was comprehensive and commended the officer report as being detailed and informative. They said the Scheme was not detrimental to the heritage of the area. In response to further Member questions Richard Hopkins made the following comments:

·  The council will be carrying out district wide research in 2016 to ascertain whether any other discrete areas should be considered for selective licensing;

·  Enforcement costs were not paid for by the landlord licence fees;

·  Licence fees are not annual and only one fee is payable for each licence, which usually lasts for 5 years;

·  There are discounts for landlords who applied for renewal at least 6 weeks in advance and for accredited landlords;

·  Requirements relating to external decorations will be applied to licences where possible;

·  The public consultation had brought up waste problems as  a particular issue of concern for residents;

·  A condition on waste will be included in the landlord’s licence to ensure that they take reasonable steps to prevent waste problems;

·  Housing Regeneration Team (HRT) coordinate their enforcement activities with the Margate Task Force;

·  Other Council officers outside the HRT would be authorised under selective licensing to increase enforcement activities;

Bob Porter, Interim Head of Housing Services advised the Panel that Council had acquired properties in Margate and had been converting them to good quality family homes, which are being  let out to Council tenants This intervention is also helping to regenerate the area..

The Scheme discourages poor landlords from moving into the designated area. Officers reported that anecdotal evidence was suggesting that, in the last six months, there had been encouraging trend of owner occupiers buying properties in the area covered by the Selective Licensing Scheme.

Councillor Coleman-Cooke proposed, Councillor Parsons seconded and the Panel agreed to recommend to Cabinet that a further selective licensing designation is made in respect of certain parts of Cliftonville West and Margate Central as set out in the annexed proposal document.