Issue - meetings

Borough-wide licensing consultation

Additional documents:

Decision:

Having considered an officer report, and a presentation by the Cabinet

Member for Housing, Councillor Paul Bell, the Mayor and Cabinet agreed that:

(1) the data analysis detailed be noted concluding:

 that approximately 26% of the residential properties in the borough are

private rented properties;

 that the stock condition of the private rented sector is shown to be below

that of other sectors with the highest proportion of non-decent homes and

there is considerable data to suggest that poor property conditions occur

within the private rented sector in Lewisham;

 that there are demonstrable relationships between the location of the

private rented sector in Lewisham and prevalence of deprivation, anti-social

behaviour, crime and migration in the borough, and that these necessary

conditions for applying for a selective licensing scheme differ in strength

depending on the area of the borough.

(2) to maximise the chance of a successful application to Secretary of State,

multiple options for selective licensing be submitted: one for borough-wide

selective licensing; and one grouping wards with similar characteristics

together in designations based on ward data evidence;

(3) officers undertake a public consultation on the proposal for a selective

licensing scheme (as split via the designations) which will require approval

from the Secretary of State;

(4) officers undertake a public consultation on the proposal for a new

additional licensing scheme, which does not require approval from the

Secretary of State;

(5) authority be delegated to the Executive Director for Customer Services to

finalise the consultation documents;

(6) if the new additional licensing scheme and the selective licensing schemes

are agreed, the council will incur costs of up to £400,000 to introduce the

schemes, which will be wholly recoverable from licencing fees;

(7) the consultation responses be presented to Housing Select Committee

and to Mayor and Cabinet in the autumn as part of any proposals to progress

with the two licensing schemes

Minutes:

The report was presented by Councillor Paul Bell who stated that the

proposals fulfilled a specific Manifesto commitment and he emphasised the

need to tackle rogue landlords.

The Mayor fully supported the proposals but observed the landlord lobby was

very influential at governmental level and support might not be gained even

though the application was very good.