Regular readers of these pages will know that I’ve been pressing the council for the past few years to introduce a Selective Licensing Scheme to help to address the many issues we have in our towns and villages associated with the poor condition of some properties in the private-rented sector (please go to the article dated Monday 21 September 2020 for background details and links to other articles on this matter: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2020/09/private-rented-housing-improvement.html)
The council has announced today that the government has given approval for a Selective Licensing Scheme in County Durham from April next year. Full details here:
An application was made to central government in December 2020 for a large-scale Selective Licensing scheme in County Durham.
The scheme covers 42% of the private rented sector (PRS) in County Durham and (approximately 28,000 homes), and is focused on areas that can suffer from issues such as deprivation and anti-social behaviour.
I am pleased to inform members that the application made by Durham County Council has been supported by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Durham County Council can now commence the process of implementation for the scheme across the County. I would like at this point to thank the teams involved in the process.
The Objectives of selective licensing
· A key objective of the County Durham Housing Strategy 2019 to 2024 is to maintain and improve standards across County Durham’s housing stock and the wider housing environment which includes developing an approach to selective licensing, addressing empty homes, improving energy efficiency of properties and supporting and maintaining communities.
· The proposal to introduce selective licensing is a significant practical policy intervention and is complementary to other actions in the strategy.
· The lack of access to good quality housing is accepted to be a contributing factor to inequalities in health, educational attainment, and disposable income (poverty).
· Selective licensing provides a regulatory framework which allows for pro-active monitoring of the private rented sector and the opportunity for enforcement against poor landlords at the earliest opportunity. It facilitates a full multi-agency approach making the best use of a range of powers available in addition to selective licensing.
Durham County Council will commence issuing licences from 1 April 2022 with the application process opening in February 2022. In line with legal requirements, the notice will be placed on our housing web pages today, along with a paper copy in noticeboards across the designated areas.
Information on how to apply and discounts available, will be published on the website soon but the discounts will remain the same as agreed during consultation.
I will update on developments as soon as I have additional details from the council.