Discretionary Licensing in the Private Rented Sector

We will shortly be commencing a consultation and will updating our site with content, a survey questionnaire and details of in person events.

Reading Borough Council currently operates the national mandatory licensing scheme for larger houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) with five or more occupants. In Reading there are currently more than 1,400 HMOs licensed in the town under the current mandatory scheme.

Discretionary licensing under the Housing Act 2004 is a tool which the council can use to improve conditions and management in the private rented sector. The schemes we propose extend HMO licensing to HMOs with three or four occupants. The scheme will also require all rented properties to have a licence, including those let to a single person or family, in three wards – Battle, Redlands and Park. These wards have been selected due the high number of rental properties in these areas which are predicted to have serious health or safety issues.

If the scheme is given the go-ahead, it will be introduced in phases over a number of years from 2025. We would like landlords, tenants, and the organisations who support them, to contribute to an upcoming consultation so that we can fully understand the impact of these proposals.

We are holding a consultation event at the Civic Offices, Bridge Street, Reading, RG1 2LU (Civic Offices location on a Google map) on Thursday 6 June 2024, we will be running the session twice during the evening our session at 17.30 is now fully booked but there are spaces at 18:45 and places will be offered on a first-come-first-served basis. You will be able to:

• Learn more about the proposed scheme; application requirements; and proposed conditions.

• Give your views on the proposals and raise issues and concerns.

• Learn more about how to respond to the consultation.

To register and confirm your attendance at this event please visit: https://forms.office.com/e/6iAKmXYgJA

The online consultation will go-live in June and will run for 12 weeks, through to August 2024. More information will be made available on our website in June, and we will be holding further drop-in sessions at various locations in Reading during the consultation period, where you can talk to staff about the proposals.

Our proposed licence conditions and amenity standards are below, together with the committee report which authorised this consultation and the stock condition report which informed our proposals.

Background

Houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) are properties occupied by 3 or more people from 2 or more households /families. Since 2006, Reading Borough Council has run a mandatory property licensing scheme for larger houses in multiple occupation (“HMOs”). This mandatory scheme currently applies to all HMOs with 5 or more occupants, and Reading currently has over 1400 licensed HMOs. Licensing private rented properties allows the Council to inspect, to limit the number of occupants, and to apply licence conditions aimed at improving conditions and safety. It is a legal requirement to apply for a licence for a licensable property and landlords and agents can be prosecuted or fined if they fail to apply. The law governing property licensing – The Housing Act 2004 – sets out criteria for the Council to consider whether the property is suitable for occupation, whether management arrangements are satisfactory, and whether the licence holder and any managing agent are “fit and proper” persons to manage the property. It also allows for the introduction of discretionary licensing schemes. Reading Borough Council is proposing to introduce discretionary licensing schemes to target those areas and sectors that have been shown to have the worst property conditions in the borough.

There are currently over 1,400 HMOs licensed in Reading under the current mandatory schemes, which covers larger houses in multiple occupation with 5 or more occupants. A house in multiple occupation is a property that is let to people from more than one family.

Ahead of this consultation we completed a stock condition survey. The stock condition survey found:

• that nearly 40% of the housing stock is in the private rented sector. Over 4,200 properties in the private rented sector in Reading are predicted to contain at least one serious hazard, which could affect the health or safety of the occupants.
• that there are over 3,000 houses in multiple occupation (HMO)
• 37% of HMOs are likely to have serious hazards (under the Housing, Health & Safety Rating System) and that
• HMOs have the highest rates of Anti-Social Behaviour when compared to other tenures.

A growing proportion of the population now live in privately rented properties. Evidence shows that privately rented housing has a greater proportion of homes in poor condition.

The Housing Act 2004 came into effect in 2006 and brought with it a range of duties and powers to improve the management and conditions across the private rented sector, including licensing. The Act introduced a statutory licensing scheme covering properties that are 3 or more stories with 5 or more occupants. In 2018, the government extended the scheme to include properties of 1 and 2 storeys, but still being applicable only to properties with 5 or more occupants. Generally, this is restricted to properties with occupants who share amenities.