Agenda item

Housing Licensing Performance Framework Working Group Final Report

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

Minutes:

Further to Minute No. 30 (3) of 7 November 2017 the Committee considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance that presented formally the final report of the Housing Licensing Performance Framework Working Group.

The Working Group was established with the following Terms of Reference and Objectives:-

· The Council is working toward the introduction of Private Rented Sector Housing Selective Licensing and Additional HMO Licensing schemes in parts of the borough

· The Selective Licensing Scheme Proposal was taken to Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regeneration and Skills) in November 2016, for review. The proposal was overwhelmingly supported

· The Selective Licensing proposal was then taken to Cabinet for formal approval in December 2016, together with approval to undertake the statutory formal public consultation. Cabinet approved the proposal and consultation

· The Selective Licensing Proposal has since been the subject of a 12 week public consultation, April-June 2017. This included notifying all Councillors of the Selective Licensing proposal and consultation, so they had the opportunity to contribute

· The results of the consultation, together with a Final Licensing Scheme proposal were taken to Cabinet in September 2017, and approved. The Council is now in the process of preparing the Selective Licensing scheme to go live from March 2018

· One key piece of work that needs to be done over the coming months is to set up a ‘performance framework’ for the Licensing schemes. This will allow the Council to test, in future, whether the Selective Licensing scheme is having an impact on improving the Licensing Neighbourhoods and private rented accommodation. The performance framework will be submitted to the Cabinet Member – Housing and Communities for approval once it is completed

· The Council approved a ‘business case’, which set out it’s justification for introducing Licensing schemes. To justify the proposed schemes for Sefton it was argued that Licensing of private rented homes would lead to the better management of these homes, which in turn would help tackle the following issues, which were used as the criteria for our schemes;

- significant anti-social behaviour.

- poor property conditions,

- a high level of deprivation or

- high levels of crime

· A Licensing scheme can only remain in operation for a maximum period of 5 years. The Council will need to monitor whether the Licensing schemes are having an impact on the issues/criteria it sought to tackle and improve

· Toward the end of the 5 year life of its schemes, the Council will need to consider whether it needs to extend the life of its schemes, and if it does, it will need to justify this through a new business case. Almost certainly, the Council would need the evidence that its schemes are having a positive impact on the issues identified. Therefore setting a suitable performance framework will be an essential tool, both to monitor the effects of licensing and to help justify any extension of the life of its schemes, should it wish to do so

· The Objective is for the Working Group to help develop and review a proposed Selective Licensing Performance Framework before it is completed and submitted for approval to the Cabinet Member – Communities and Housing.

Accordingly, the Working Group met on two occasions to undertake such review and its Final Report, together with associated recommendations, was attached to the report.

Councillor Bill Welsh, Lead Member of the Working Group, introduced the Final Report and commended the recommendations within it to the Committee; and thanked officers and his colleague on the Working Group, Councillor Mike O’Brien, for their hard work and input into the Final Report.

Members of the Committee asked questions/made comments on the following issues:-

· The possible displacement of landlords and tenants to other areas of Sefton not covered by the Housing Licensing scheme or to neighbouring areas

· Bad landlords blaming the condition of their properties on tenants

· Assurance was sought and given of the Additional HMO Licensing scheme covering parts of the Blundellsands ward

· A borough wide scheme was originally desired but revised Government guidance and rules meant the Housing Licensing Scheme had to be targeted at specific areas

· Assurance was sought and given that Ward Councillors could lodge complaints on behalf of tenants

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet be recommended to:-

(1)

Approve the monitoring factors as detailed in the table below as the set of suitable measurable data sets to be used to report on the intended outcomes of the licensing schemes:-

Monitoring factor	Description	Why measure?
Number of licences applied for per scheme	Total number of properties for which an application for a licence has been made, against the number of identified Privately rented properties that require a licence	To ensure landlords have applied for a licence where applicable. To compare the actual number of private rented properties against the original, estimated number. This will also assist with the financial management of the schemes.
Number of licenses granted per scheme	How many properties currently have a licence against the number applied for and number of identified properties requiring a licence.	To ensure all licensable properties obtain a licence and meet license conditions.
Number of properties accredited; a) Inside the licensing areas b) Outside the licensing areas	Accreditation is a voluntary scheme. It is a measure of high quality property standards and management.	To monitor the levels of accredited properties and thus levels of “good” standard accommodation. Monitoring numbers inside and outside of licensing areas will allow comparisons
Number of properties non-compliant on first inspection	How many properties DO NOT comply with the licence conditions when inspected by officers.	To establish a baseline of standards of property condition and their management. A high number of ‘non-compliance’ would be evidence to justify the License schemes.
Number of properties non-compliant on first inspection but now compliant	How many properties DO NOT comply with the licence conditions at the introduction of the schemes (and 1^st inspection) but have improved to be compliant, as a result of the schemes	To establish the level of improvements that have been made to the levels of property management and conditions. This will help demonstrate the level of impact the License schemes have made to improve private rented sector conditions and management.
Numbers and types of formal action	How many statutory notices and Civil Penalties have been served within the 3 licensing areas.	To monitor the level of requirement for formal action by officers, for either not obtaining a licence or a breach of licence conditions. Informal action (warnings) will be issued in the first instance, but if landlords don’t act on these, then formal legal action will be followed.
Number of Service Requests received; a) within the licensing areas b) outside of the licensing areas	Service Requests are complaints received about a property, usually regarding its management or condition. (These requests generally come from Privately Rented tenants.)	This measure will show if numbers of service requests increase or decrease as a result of licensing. It will show any difference in numbers inside and outside of licensing areas. It will also indicate if poor property conditions are increasing outside of the licensing areas as a possible result of displacement of landlords.
Number of licensed properties that have had Category 1 hazards removed	Category 1 hazards are the most serious health & safety hazards identified in a property using the Housing Health & Safety Rating System (Housing Act 2004). This will be captured by officers inspecting properties.	A measure of how many properties have had Category 1 Hazards removed is a clear indication of the improvements in property conditions.
Numbers of request for advice from ASB (Anti-Social Behaviour) team	This is likely to be requests from Licence holders/landlords to the ASB team for help in dealing with ASB issues at their property. The management of ASB is a licence condition.	This figure will record the levels of advice requests from landlords and measure if this changes throughout the duration of the schemes.
Numbers of cases where ASB team have intervened	All referrals to the ASB team for advice will be captured, to assess levels.	Has the ASB support for licence holder/landlords lead to more intervention by the Council’s ASB team? Have their levels of Service requests increased or decreased?
Outcome of ASB team intervention	Has the intervention been a success? What was the outcome?	Have levels of ASB in licensing areas reduced?

(2)

Request that the Head of Economic Growth and Housing submit an Annual Monitoring Report, to ensure that the Schemes meet their intended outcomes and objectives in measuring the progress of the Schemes through the collection of data on various factors, to both the Cabinet Member – Communities and Housing and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regeneration and Skills); and

(3)

if possible Private Rented Sector Housing Selective Licensing and Additional HMO Licensing Schemes in parts of the borough be selected as a topic for a Members’ Briefing Session prior to Council; and that if this is not possible, then the Head of Economic Growth and Housing be requested to arrange an awareness/training session for all Members of the Council.

Supporting documents:

Final Report Housing Licensing Performance Framework Working Group Final Report, item 48. PDF 718 KB