Nottingham City Council’s Selective Licensing – Coming in to affect 1st August 2018
The Scheme
Nottingham City Council will be implementing a selective licensing scheme for private rental accommodation within city boundary. The license will be a legal requirement for every property owned by a Landlord within the selected area. If you are unsure as to whether your property falls in to the catchment area for the license, you can check here:
geoserver.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/myproperty
Start date
The scheme has been formally confirmed by the Minister of Housing & Homelessness and have set the implementation date for 1st August 2018. Applications cannot currently be submitted though the council are aiming to have the form available from 1st July 2018. However, this date is only provisional and yet to be confirmed.
The cost
Licences will cost landlords with Nottingham Standard accreditation £480, the equivalent of £1.85 a week per property over the five years of the scheme and £780, which equates to £3 a week if they haven’t got accreditation.
The standard fee of £780 will be payable in two parts, the first payment will be £460 and the second payment will be £320.
For accredited Landlords, the fee of £480 will also be payable in two parts. The first payment will be £360 and the second payment will be £120.
There is an additional cost for becoming accredited details of which can be found by following the link to More information on the Nottingham Standard below.
https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/nottinghamstandard
How to apply
It is the responsibility of the person who has control of the property (usually the person who receives the rent for the property) to apply to the council for a licence. This can be the owner or manager. The council aims to make an online portal for applications available from 1 July 2018 (provisional date only) but Landlords can start preparing the documentation, which will be required to support their applications now.
A licence will last up to 5 years and one licence will be required for each private rented property – not each landlord. Landlords and property managers (person receiving the rent) need to apply for a licence, not tenants.
Fines
It is an offence if a person having control of a house does not apply for a licence where one is required. This could be the owner, leaseholder, managing agent etc. If found guilty of this offence, the fine may be up to a maximum of £20,000. The council can now issue financial penalties of up to £30,000 for offences under the Housing Act 2004. This would be instead of a prosecution.
Failure to licence properties may also affect any decision regarding existing or future licences. Tenants can also apply to claim their rent back (rent repayment order) for the period the property was unlicensed, or housing benefit can be ordered to be repaid.
What you will need
The council have set out a list of documents that Landlords will need to present in order to apply for a licence. These terms have yet to be finalised, but you can view the proposed licensed conditions by clicking the below link:
https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/housing/private-sector-housing/selective-licensing/#applying
Our fees
Tattershalls are offering to submit applications on behalf of our ‘Managed’ and ‘Let Only’ clients. However, due to the amount of work involved and the small timescale given we will be charging a fee of £125 including VAT per property to submit the application on behalf of our clients.
We will need confirmation by the 15th June 2018 if you wish for Tattershalls to submit the application on your behalf. You will also need to provide any requested documents we do not hold for you or your property by this date.
Tattershalls are not able to act as a licence holder on behalf of our clients. All licences will need to be in the name of the Landlord.
More information
All information regarding the scheme can be found on the Nottingham City Councils website, the link is below:
https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/housing/private-sector-housing/selective-licensing/#applying
The Nottingham City Council are also holding an update at the Council House on Thursday 24th May 2018. To book onto this event, please email the selective licensing team at selective.licensing@nottinghamcity.gov.uk by Friday 18th May 2018.