Agenda item

To receive a report by the Built Environment and Public Protection Manager on the Additional Licensing for Houses in Multiple Occupation and to seek the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee’s input prior to the public consultation exercise (copy attached).

11:15am – 12:00pm

The Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services presented the report Additional Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation alongside officers, Public Protection Business Manager, Built Environment Manager and the Public Protection Officer (Environmental Health).

officers had requested that Scrutiny considered a proposal to renew the Council’s Additional Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation Scheme, currently operating within Rhyl, and to also extend the scheme to include relevant properties in Prestatyn, Denbigh and Llangollen.  The Committee was advised by the Lead Member that both North Wales Police (NWP) and North Wales Fire and Rescue Service (NWFRS) were pleased with the effectiveness of the current scheme operating in areas within Rhyl and were eager for the scheme to be renewed. In light of the success of the current scheme the Council was keen to extend it to three other towns in the county, Denbigh, Llangollen and Prestatyn in order to ensure that houses in multiple occupation not covered by the mandatory scheme would now be regulated more effectively. The purpose of the scheme was to ensure that houses in multiple occupation were maintained to a reasonable standard, and that they provided suitable and safe accommodation for the people who lived there. Following consideration by Scrutiny, the next step would be to take the Scheme to each of the relevant Member Area Groups (MAGs) and to commence a 10 week public consultation on the Scheme prior to presenting it to Cabinet for approval and adoption.

Officers outlined the benefits of having an Additional Licensing Scheme for Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO) advising that the Council proactively inspected properties covered by the mandatory and additional schemes to ensure compliance. It also allowed the Council to work with private landlords to secure improvements, which in turn helped reduce the number of voids in the county, increase the number of housing units available in Denbighshire, as well as improve the County’s performance against the number of overcrowded properties recorded in the Wales Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD).

During the Committee’s discussions the Lead Member and Officers:

·         advised that anti-social behaviour in private sector HMO required stricter monitoring and enforcement action taken where necessary;

·         confirmed that the Housing Enforcement Team comprised of six full time equivalent (FTE) staff and were confident, based on current available data, that this would be sufficient to manage the proposed extended additional licensing scheme. The Team also benefited from income received from fees which provided them with some flexibility to employ additional staff if required;

·         advised that prosecuting non-compliant landlords was a lengthy and complex process, hence the low number of prosecutions undertaken in the ten years the Scheme had been operating in parts of Rhyl. Dialogue, and if required enforcement or prohibition action, were far more effective management tools as in order to secure their income from their properties landlords would eventually work with the Council with a view to complying with requirements;

·         explained the complexities involved with the Planning, Building and Licensing Regulations but emphasised that all three services worked closely together on matters of concern;

·         advised that the Service relied heavily on reactive information from tenants, the public and elected members regarding potential incidents of non-compliance.  It also worked closely with the Council’s Homelessness Service and external agencies in relation to access to housing and homelessness services;

·         confirmed that the Service used Rent Smart Wales data to compare registrations and licensing data with that held by the Council;

·         advised that all complaints received in relation to housing enforcement contraventions were actioned within five days; and

·         advised that the Additional Licensing Scheme did not apply to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) as they required to comply to the same housing regulations as the Council’s housing stock, the Additional Licensing Scheme applied to private sector landlords.  However, if members had concerns about any RSL properties or tenants they could forward them to the Council’s Housing Enforcement Team and they would raise them with the RSLs as they met them on a regular basis 

Responding to members’ concerns as to whether introducing the Additional Licensing Scheme to specific towns in the county and not to all towns and villages may have a detrimental effect by driving unscrupulous landlords to operate in areas not covered by the scheme, officers advised that they would closely monitor the situation. This could be done by working closely with Environmental Services through monitoring waste and recycling data for an area in case they were emptying multiple waste receptacles for single properties. Members also registered their concerns on the perceived increase in the number planning applications for conversion of single dwellings into multiple-occupancy dwellings considered by the Council’s Planning Committee in recent months, be they for converting into HMOs or stand-alone apartments.

The Committee requested to be provided with a link to the ‘Rent Smart Wales’ website and data, and to be provided with the register of RSL properties in Denbighshire.

At the conclusion of the discussion the Committee:

Resolved: - subject to the above observations –

(i)            and the provision of an ‘Information Report’ on the number of planning applications received by the Council during the last two years seeking permission to convert single dwellings into Houses of Multiple Occupation and/or into self-contained apartments , including the number of applications granted and refused by officers and by the Planning Committee;  

(ii)          having considered the contents of the report and given particular consideration to the geographical area Covered by the proposed Additional Licensing Scheme, the type of Houses in Multiple Occupation to be covered by the additional scheme, the justification and evidence for re-designating an Additional Licencing Scheme, the Conditions to be imposed as part of the Scheme, and the fees to be applied to the Scheme, to support the forthcoming consultation on extending the Additional Licensing Scheme;  

(iii)         that as part of its consideration it had read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessment (Appendix 7); and  

(iv)         that following the conclusion of the public consultation  process the final draft Additional Licensing for Houses in Multiple Occupation be presented to the Committee for further scrutiny prior to its submission to Cabinet for approval