HMO licence charges

[Mr Landlord]

I read with interest that Evesham council are not charging landlords for HMO licences, http://www.thisisevesham.co.uk/worcestershire/evesham/news/EVE_NEWS_LATEST5.html
At a recent landlord/council meeting I attended with Camden council I was told that the charge of £500 + £30 per tenancy was 'covering their costs' and that this figure had been arrived at using an 'ALG or GLA formula' even the chap explaining this to me wasn't sure which it was!
I just wonder how some councils deem it appropriate to charge nothing and others several hundreds and in some cases thousands of pounds to issue these licences.

[red40]

I haven't heard of no authorities not charging for licensing, until now!

Just as a footnote to the new Housing Act, authorities will also be able to charge landlords the costs for issuing a notice to have works done on a property, this is different from the licensing fee.

Although saying that and depending on the nature of the works, local authorities do have an option of using the 'enforcement concordat' which says before issuing a notice the local authority could be using informal action i.e meet the landlord and discuss the works and if possible giving a timescale to do the works (it may only be a few days to a month) before considering taking formal action and passing the costs of any notice issued onto the landlord.:cool:

Just a note which maybe of interest to the landlords on here, who dont know about these things