A new landlord licensing scheme that will cover in the region of 45,000 private rented homes is being introduced in Liverpool.
Liverpool City Council’s new Landlord Licensing scheme will cover about 80% of privately rented properties in the city when it is introduced next month.
The new scheme, which runs until April 2027, targets 16 wards in the city where at least one in five homes is owned by a private landlord.
Around 45,000 of the 55,000 properties in the original city-wide scheme, which ran from 2015-2020, are covered, giving the local authority greater power to generate revenue from the PRS and potentially improve living standards in the sector.
The wards included are: Central, Riverside, Greenbank, Kensington, Picton, Tuebrook & Stoneycroft, County, Anfield, St Michael’s, Princes Park, Kirkdale, Old Swan, Warbreck, Wavertree, Fazakerley and Everton.
Landlords signing up before the end of June 2022 will be offered early bird discount which will see the total cost of a five-year licence charged at £380 per property, rather than £550.
Additional discounts are available:
£50 – for each property with an Energy Performance Certificate rating of C or above
£50 – for each property licenced by the same licence holder in the same block of flats
£30 – for each property if the licence holder has an active membership of a professional body related to housing
Landlord Licensing is separate to HMO (Houses of Multiple Occupation) licensing, which is already mandatory and covers over 2,600 properties.
Cllr Sarah Doyle, cabinet member for Strategic Development and Housing, said: “The launch of our new Landlord Licensing scheme is a major step forward in giving us the tools to improve our neighbourhoods.
“Too many vulnerable people in our city are in poor housing conditions, paying rent to a landlord who doesn’t carry out essential maintenance to keep them warm and safe. The Landlord Licensing scheme gives us regulation of private rented houses, so that we can take action when concerns are raised.
“Under the previous scheme, council intervention forced bad landlords into taking action to improve their properties. Poor electrical and fire safety standards are a danger to life and damp and anti-social behaviour contribute to poor health and mental wellbeing.”
Comments (6)
Meanwhile over the border in Wales they charge per landlord/joint landlord a new 5 year licence at £45.
Now who’s making money out of PRS. Have I got my maths right 45,000 @ £550 = 24,750,000
Ha, another council levying a tax against landlords under the pretence of “improving living standards“. Funny how councils aren’t improving their own stock and simply rely upon Housing Associations to do the job for them.
Property availability and cost will be negatively impacted on tenants, who need to wake up to Labour’s damaging effects on them.
The scheme is largely a paper exercise – I understand most prosecutions under the old scheme were for procedural/admin failures by license holders, not breaches for conditions.
I find it very odd that the fee structure is so complicated – there are discounts for having multiple flats in a block (even though another council allows owners of a freehold and all flats in a block to get one license to cover them all, and discounts for a low EPC, and discounts for accreditation schemes, very little of which is published – eg is RICS covered? Our university accreditation gets us a discount but that’s not published by the local authority, just the university accommodation office. I am not entirely sure, given the license scheme fees must be used only for the administration of the scheme, and cannot make a profit, how they can justify giving one property a lower fee if it has a lower EPC – it also discriminates to a degree as the majority of the housing stock is of Victorian vintage and it is very hard to raise them to a C rating. Administering registering a large number of properties is going to be a real headache – as is explaining to landlords why they are getting different discounts etc. All a lot of extra work for zero benefit.
Full Property Licence Fee£550
Early Bird Property Licence Fee£380
New Rental property (after scheme starts)£380
Early Bird or New Property Licence Fee Plus EPC at C or above£330
Early Bird or New Property Licence Fee Plus Multi Flat£330
Early Bird or New Property Licence Fee Plus EPC at C or above, Plus Multi Flat£280
Landlords who assist the Council by offering permanent accommodation to meet homelessness dutiesNO FEE
Early Bird Property Licence Fee, Plus Landlord Membership Discount £350
New Rental property (after scheme starts) Plus Landlord Membership Discount£350
Early Bird or New Property Licence Fee Plus EPC at C or above Plus Landlord Membership Discount
Early Bird or New Property Licence Fee Plus Multi Flat Plus Landlord Membership Discount£300
Early Bird or New Property Licence Fee Plus EPC at C or above Plus Multi Flat Plus Landlord Membership
If its a Landlord tax why is it levied per property?
So let’s call it by its real name “Landlord Licence Tenant Tax”. Ultimately this tax will be paid by tenants through higher rents. And for what benefits for the average tenant? Zilch, zeto, nada. Have standards improved? Has antisocial behaviour reduced?
This is Liverpool announcing to the world that they did not manage to solve all the poor maintenance problems in the first five years of licencing. Disgraceful performance by Liverpool City Council.