Landlord Today has recently published an article asking whether Licensing is ‘Raising Standards or Just Raising Revenue?’

The full article can be seen here, and raises the example of Brent where it says ‘one of the largest licensing scheme proposals is in Brent, which will cover borough-wide and operate in 21 of the 22 wards, only excluding the Wembley Park ward. The PRS is huge in Brent making up 45.6 per cent of total housing stock. In total there are around 50,000 PRS properties within the scope of the scheme so to base an estimate of on one staff member visiting three properties per day, it would take over 50 years to complete checks on every property which is a completely unrealistic number to ensure were compliant.’

It also goes to raise the concern around ‘the local authorities’ resources’ stating that ‘the time taken for them to process licenses and their ability to deal with the admin which is leaving many landlords frustrated and uncertain around their entitlements whilst being processed. When engaging with members, some mentioned during the Tower Hamlets consultation that it took months to receive them.’