Issue - meetings

The Deputy Leader presented the report of the Director: Housing, Employment & Infrastructure.

To make best use of homes of all tenures in the area, the report outlined a boroughwide support package for tenants and landlords, updates to licensing standards and conditions, an increase to HMO licence fees, and an extension of the Council’s affordable warmth programme.

There would also be the introduction of a dedicated landlord and tenant coordinator and an inspection programme for supported living providers to support elderly tenants.

Cabinet members welcomed the report, noting the successes the scheme had had to date whilst acknowledging that more work was necessary to tackle persisting problems. Specific points were made in support of the affordable warmth programme and its alignment with the Council’s environmental agenda.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrat group welcomed the report, noting the affordable warmth scheme in particular.

The Leader of the Conservative group stated his general backing for improving housing conditions and tackling rogue landlords and congratulated officers on securing government funding for the local housing sector. Greater consultation with landlords was called for.

Upon being put to a vote it was:

RESOLVED – that Cabinet

a)         Notes the continued progress of the Better Homes for All

            Programme.

b)        Approves the closure of the current landlord accreditation scheme, as detailed in section 5.3 of the report.

c)         Approves a new Borough wide package of support for private tenants and landlords, including the introduction of a dedicated landlord tenant coordinator as detailed in section 5.4 of this report. The full package details are contained within Appendix 1.

d)        Approves the Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy 2022 including a revised civil penalty charging matrix and adoption of a number of pieces of legislation to improve standards in the private rented sector, as detailed in section 5.7. The policy is appended to the report as Appendix 2.

e)         Approves a fixed fee structure, in order to ensure consistency, for certain enforcement action taken under Section 49 of the Housing Act 2004 as detailed in section 5.9.5 of the report.         

f)          Approves the revised amenity, space and management standards for HMOs in the Borough as detailed in section 5.12 of this report and Appendix 3

g)        Approves the revised HMO licence conditions to incorporate changes in legislation, including the introduction of minimum room sizes to tackle overcrowding in HMOs as detailed in section 5.13 of this report and Appendix 4

h)        Approves the revised fee structure for Mandatory Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licencing as detailed in section 5.14 of this report.

i)          Delegates authority to the Director for Housing, Employment & Infrastructure in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, Enforcement and Transport to approve any future amendments to any enforcement or HMO licensing fee structures; and the Conditions for Houses in Multiple Occupancy required to be licenced

j)          Notes the energy efficiency measures that will be delivered with £0.5m climate change funding as detailed in section 5.16.3 of this report.