At the time a story on the Inside Croydon website claimed the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and its civil servants were “devastating in their critique of Croydon’s renewal submission.” This reportedly left the council with a £22m ‘black hole’ because expected landlord licensing fees would not be recovered.

“Nearly one third of all Croydon homes are in the private-rented sector, so the need for us to continue supporting their tenants hasn’t gone away just because our renewal application was turned down.

“So later this year we will review our options on the best way forward, and if this results in any significant proposed changes we would consult residents and landlords before making a decision.”

From 2015 to 2020, the council ran a borough-wide selective licensing scheme for its 38,500 privately let homes.

The council claims that the scheme “resolved thousands of incidents with landlords without needing further action, served over 1,000 enforcement notices and banned over 75 offending landlords from holding a licence.”

The council also took landlords to court in over 20 cases for the most serious offences.