Liverpool vows to tackle rogue landlords after government denies them selective licensing

Liverpool City Council has vowed to take action against the city’s criminal landlords, after the government refused their application to continue its successful Landlord Licensing Scheme.

For the past five years, all property owners, landlords and managing agents have been legally required to licence any property unless a statutory exemption applied – but that ended on Tuesday (March 31) after the government turned down a renewal application.

Selective licensing has become a popular tool for councils to tackle rogue landlords and the dismal housing quality in the rental market.

In Liverpool, there were 51,764 property licences in force, issued to 10,074 licence holders, and the team conducted over 34,000 compliance checks of properties and identified 65% as not being fully complaint with licence conditions at first visit.

As well as variable management standards, 3,375 of the most serious category 1 and 2 hazards were discovered, affecting the health, safety and well-being of residents. These ranged from fire safety hazards to significant damp and mould, serious disrepair and excess cold issues.

There were over 300 successful prosecutions that led to fines and in one case a custodial sentence for offences including operating unlicensed properties, breaches of licence conditions and failure to comply with legal notices – and more than 2,500 fines were issued.

All current cases that are with the legal team will continue to be processed and taken to court where necessary and the council is actively looking at submitting another application to the government for a substantial landlord licensing scheme.

Deputy mayor and cabinet member for Housing, Councillor Lynnie Hinnigan, said: ‘Landlord licensing enabled us, for the first time ever, to build a picture of the private rented sector in the city and take action where necessary.

‘It is a great shame that the government turned down our application for another city-wide scheme, but we are committed to continuing to do what we can to protect vulnerable tenants from rogue landlords.

‘Where we receive a complaint we will investigate but regrettably, apart from the HMO sector, we will no longer have the capacity to do proactive work in terms of knocking on doors to check conditions.

‘The size of the private rented sector in Liverpool – in some areas 50% of properties – means we can’t afford to be without a landlord licensing scheme.’