Leicester asks for views on plans to improve private rented sector

Residents are being asked to give feedback on a range of measures to tackle rogue landlords in Leicester and help safeguard tenants in communities across the city.

Leicester City Council is considering bringing in extra measures requiring landlords and properties to be properly licensed in order to protect the most vulnerable people and improve the standards of private-sector rented housing citywide.

The City Council wants to widen the scope of its existing powers to tackle ongoing issues within the private rented sector and to improve standards.

Assistant City Mayor for Housing, Cllr Elly Cutkelvin, said: ‘It is vital that people have access to decent affordable housing, and for many families the only chance of this is through a private rented tenancy.

‘Our responsibility is to protect the most vulnerable people by ensuring their housing, and their landlords, meet a higher standard in terms of safety, maintenance and the effect on the wider community. We’re supporting landlords and tenants to engage with us on these plans, and the involvement of communities themselves is key to ensuring we have robust measures that address local issues.

‘I’d urge people to take part in this consultation, and to take part in the Q&A sessions, to play their part in shaping how we can raise standards to be met by both landlords and their properties.’

The consultation sets out three options showing how these different approaches could be used to improve private rented sector standards.

The first approach would involve bringing in Selective Licensing, which would require all privately rented properties to be licensed by the city council, within parts of the city’s Westcotes, Fosse, Saffron, Stoneygate, Braunstone Park and Rowley Fields wards.

A second option proposes introducing citywide Additional Licensing, which would require all small HMOs occupied by three or four unrelated tenants who share facilities such as kitchens and bathrooms, to be licensed. It would operate in all areas of the city.

A third option would bring in Additional Licensing only within parts of Westcotes, Fosse, Stoneygate, Braunstone Park and Rowley Fields.

Photo by Nirmal Rajendharkumar