A national body representing landlords claims rents will rise in areas like Jesmond if Newcastle City Council expands its licensing of landlords. It also says the scheme will fail to improve housing conditions.

Landlords could face a licence fee of up to £750 in a scheme that the council wants approved by mid-2019. The selective licensing of privately rented properties initiative will target city wards with high levels of privately-owned accommodation, including North Jesmond and South Jesmond, covering an estimated 18,500 properties.

Gavin Dick, local authority policy officer for the National Landlords Association (NLA), says landlords will pass on the cost of the licensing, meaning rents will rise, and will delay repairs to their properties. “Landlords effectively see this as a tax,” he told JesmondLocal. “It doesn’t deliver anything. Criminals won’t get a licence, and that fundamentally undermines any scheme.”

A council report on the proposal says the scheme “will provide private tenants with a greater choice of safe, good quality and well-managed accommodation.” But at the council’s cabinet meeting last week, deputy council leader Joyce McCarty was more blunt, saying the proposed changes would also “tackle rogue landlords”,

The council says it receives around 1,200 complaints each year about housing conditions. In the past five years, 9,100 complaints have been received about damp, fire safety and properties falling into disrepair.

A landlord in High West Jesmond was recently fined £1,000 for failing to keep his property in good repair.
(Photo courtesy of Newcastle City Council)

The past five years have also seen more than 1,800 complaints about anti-social behaviour, 4,900 complaints about litter and 11,900 noise complaints – problems that are more prevalent in areas with higher levels of privately-rented accommodation.

Dick told JesmondLocal that problematic landlords can be dealt with under existing laws, including the Housing Act. The council can issue improvement orders, landlords can be fined up to £30,000 per offence and, in extreme cases, face a forced sale of their property.

“There’s no disputing that there’s criminality out there,” he said. “Let’s target the criminals, and they [the council] know where the criminals are. But for Newcastle to say they’re going to license more than 18,000 properties… that just doesn’t make sense.”

The issue of whether existing laws are sufficient is contentious. A joint investigation by the Guardian and ITV News this week has revealed multiple cases of landlords flouting the law.

Dick said Newcastle was under-estimating the true cost of solving problems in the housing sector. The NLA supported a selective licensing scheme in Leeds, targeting just 700 properties, with increased spending on adult social care and children’s services, plus a helpline for landlords. “Many people in the private rented sector do genuinely have problems, whether it’s mental health issues, drug addiction, alcohol addiction,” he said. “Actually solving those issues is more important than just the council [saying] ‘Oh we’ve introduced licensing, we’ve resolved the issues in the private rented sector.’ Because you haven’t. You’ve just passed another piece of legislation.”

Newcastle trialled a selective licensing scheme with 740 properties in Greater High Cross in Benwell and in Byker Old Town. It reports a large increase in tenants’ satisfaction with their properties, and that about 80% of residents want the scheme to continue. The council now wants to cover 80% of the privately rented accommodation in Newcastle. This would be achieved mostly through a combination of selective and additional licensing, but licensing for about 4,800 properties would require government approval.

According to Dick of the NLA, Newcastle should follow best practices in other cities, not follow the herd. “There’s a rash of councils in the north east all going down this route as if it’s the Holy Grail, but they’ve not actually looked at what’s worked elsewhere in the country,” he said. “They’ve isolated themselves, saying ‘We know best’.”

Exact licence fees have yet to be determined, but it is estimated that a five-year licence will cost between £650 and £750. Landlords who do not apply, or who have what the council considers “a history of non-compliance,” will receive only a one-year licence.

Several units will help implement the scheme, including a compliance team to audit properties and an enforcement team that will work with partners including the police.

The proposed changes will go through a 12-week consultation period from 5^th November 2018 to 27^th January 2019. Final recommendations will be sent for cabinet approval by summer 2019. Details of the proposed licensing conditions, an online survey and FAQs will be available soon on a new website at https://newcastleplproposal.commonplace.is/ Comments and questions can be emailed to LicensingConsultation@newcastle.gov.uk.