North East Lincolnshire Council has approved plans to introduce a Selective Licensing scheme to ensure that properties are effectively managed and maintained in part of the East Marsh Ward.
Cabinet members have agreed that following a 10-week public consultation earlier this year, and analysis of the findings, the introduction of Selective Licensing will enable the council to intervene effectively to help raise housing standards, reduce anti-social behaviour, and allow the council to deal with non-compliant landlords who let out properties which do not meet current standards.
Selective Licensing is the best way to tackle these serious issues that are detrimentally affecting the area. The Council hopes to implement the scheme within six months.
Results of the public consultation showed that 60% of the 202 residents who took part in the survey were in support of the scheme, whereas the majority of landlords were not.
Residents said they were satisfied that the Council had looked at a number of other options in the past to combat problems in the area, but landlords disagreed.
The scheme is designed to collaborate with landlords and tenants to help residents live in their homes longer, by working towards making it a better place to live. Overall, the majority of respondents either strongly agreed or agreed with the approach.
It aims to improve the quality of housing, improve health inequalities, support households to maintain a tenancy, and help to build a community where people want to live.
Following the consultation, and analysis of property values and rental incomes, it was agreed that streets to the south of Durban Road do not need to be included within the Selective Licensing boundary, which will now be based on the Home Office Safer Streets area, excluding Cooper Road, Columbia Road, Fairmont Road and any inter-connecting streets.
East Marsh is in the top 1% of the most deprived wards in the country.
Life expectancy is the lowest in the borough, and the crime rate is the highest in the borough. 24.6% of people live in fuel poverty.
East Marsh also has some of the highest concentrations of private rented accommodation, high levels of anti-social behaviour, poor property conditions, and frequent reports of nuisance noise and fly-tipping.
Cabinet members agreed that if the Council does not introduce Selective Licensing then the area will not experience an improvement in housing conditions, which will continue to impact tenants and wider residents.
Selective Licensing will give the council extra powers to take enforcement action against those landlords that do not comply with regulations. It will also include powers to punish poor landlords with large fines. Registered Social Landlords and their properties will be exempt from Selective Licensing.
One of the concerns for landlords and tenants in the consultation was the cost of the Selective Licensing scheme and whether it will impact on rents.
The Council is mindful of the impact of the licence fee on landlords and says it will seek to operate the scheme as efficiently as possible
It also proposed that a review of the fee structure and delivery mechanisms is undertaken to ensure the scheme delivers value for money. It says the fee structure must cover only the costs of running the proposed scheme on a cost recovery basis.
Selective licensing must be delivered at no cost to the Council, with licence fees paying for all revenue costs, including staffing and associated costs.
The Council will also look to support the physical regeneration of the East Marsh area when funding is made available. This includes a current £2.9m investment into the area, which will provide improvements to properties.
Cllr Stewart Swinburn, Portfolio Holder for Housing, Infrastructure and Transport, said: “The introduction of Selective Licensing in the East Marsh supports the strategic aims of this Council by supporting a Stronger Economy and Stronger Communities.
“We have listened to people in the East Marsh and they want better living conditions, they want to sleep safe in their beds, and they want to not have to worry about poor housing conditions or high crime impacting their lives.
“Selective Licensing will enable conditions for good and sustainable homes, allowing residents to live a healthy life, nurturing our children and building their future, supporting our adults and contributing to clean and safe streets.”
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