Agenda item

Report of the Director for Community Protection and the Corporate Director for Commercial and Operations

Julie Liversidge, Principle Environmental Health Officer, presented a report to the Committee on Additional Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation, highlighting the following points:

(a)  an additional licensing scheme for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) started 1 April 2014, and will run to 31 December 2018. It is part of a strategic approach;

(b)  it is estimated that there are 3,200 HMOs in the scheme, with 1,520 applications received from the Arboretum, Dunkirk and Lenton, Radford and Park area – 317 from Arboretum, 782 from Dunkirk and Lenton, and 421 from Radford and Park;

(c)  an average of 38 applications are received for the additional licensing scheme each month. 72% of licences are issued with extra conditions or restrictions, and 22 licences have been refused to date;

(d)  over 300 compliance visits have been completed, with 53 of these requiring extra work to be done, which will hopefully lead to a reduction in anti-social behaviour and improvements to neighbourhoods. Legal notices are served to help identify unlicensed HMOs;

(e)  Licenses are issued with conditions which require holders to be proactive in management of properties. This includes maintenance of the exterior of the property so as to not adversely affect the area (refuse storage etc.), requires inspection of property by the license holder, provision of emergency contact details to tenant, and the license holder taking practical steps to reducing anti-social behaviour. These conditions have been challenged by a landlord at a tribunal, but the tribunal upheld the council’s position;

(f)  compliance is checked during planned visits, by license holders providing any documentation requested, and by visits as the result of complaints. License holders are sent warning letters to remind them of their responsibilities as a result of reports from Community Protection Officers. In some cases of non-compliance, licenses can be revoked or license holders can be subject to prosecution;

(g)  the Licensing team work closely with Planning to identify unlicensed HMOs. Currently they are dealing with a landlord who has been refused planning permission;

(h)  11 warrants have been issued to gain entry to properties. 24 emergency prohibitions have been carried out to close premises immediately. 23 properties have been prohibited. 55 improvement notices have been served. 14 emergency legal actions have been carried out. 4 landlords have been prosecuted. 6 electric installations have been reported and made safe;

(i)  in December 2015, a success bid was made to the Department for Community and Local Government to receive £151,000 to focus targeted work on local landlords, largely in the Area 4 wards.

A number of questions and comments were made by the Committee, and additional information was provided in response:

(j)  it is vital to ensure that tenants are living in safe properties, and excellent progress has been made to ensure that all Nottingham citizens are safe in their homes;

(k)  in the Arboretum area, gang masters have been operating using residential properties. The Department for Communities and Local Government funding will empower the City Council to look at the related issues for safer housing, the Community Protection team can share information about properties more freely, and the Police have been working closely with the City Council on this issue. This will help to make the service more intelligence-led;

(l)  one of the issues that can be challenged is refuse storage, but it is difficult to control the tenants and get them to bring the bins back onto the property. The conditions surrounding refuse storage had to be amended on instruction of the property tribunal;

(m)  the landlord is the license holder so they are ultimately responsible for removal of any waste and furniture when a tenant has vacated a property. This issue will be fed back to Community Protection, to make sure message reaches landlords that it is their responsibility.

RESOLVED to thank Julie for the update and note its contents.