Sutton Council is to launch a new additional licensing scheme later this month amid criticism that its application system will make it trickier for landlords.

The authority was previously criticised by London Property Licensing for its consultation which it said contained very little information and no supporting evidence base. Sutton Council reports that 73% of the 110 people who took part either strongly agreed or agreed with the proposal - although landlords and agents expressed concerns about financial burdens, administrative complexity, and the scheme unfairly penalising responsible landlords.

The council estimates that 690 properties will need licensing under the borough-wide scheme which launches on 22nd March, although London Property Licensing believes confusion remains about which section 257 HMOs (buildings converted into self-contained flats) are included.

HMOs

It says these HMOs were not referred to in the licensing consultation while a report to councillors recommended the scheme included all section 257 HMOs. “Whilst the scheme designation includes all section 257 HMOs, the accompanying public notice and email distributed to stakeholders says the scheme only includes section 257 HMOs where less than half of the flats are owner-occupied.”

Download

The council has a non-editable PDF application form which landlords and agents can download from the council’s website. The licensing service that without PDF editing software, the form will need to be printed out and completed by hand before being submitted.

There are estimated to be 942 HMOs in the borough, with 251 likely to have at least one serious housing hazard (26% of HMOs), according to the council. However, its house condition survey concluded that there wasn’t evidence to propose introducing selective licensing in Sutton due to the lack of a positive correlation between the number of properties in the PRS and high levels of ASB or other criteria.

Sutton introduced an Article 4 Direction last year, after seeing an increase in the number of HMOs.

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