Agenda item

Resolved

            That Cabinet:

i)    agrees to designate a new selective licensing area (to be known as Selective Licensing Designation 2) in the 12 wards of Acton Central, Dormers Wells, Greenford Broadway, Greenford Green, Hanger Hill, Hobbayne, Lady Margaret, North Greenford, Northolt Mandeville, Northolt West End, Perivale and South Acton (pre-May 2022 boundaries) as delineated and edged red on the map in the draft designation in Appendix 1 for a five-year period, subject to confirmation by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).

ii)  agrees that this Selective Licensing Designation 2 will have the same terms and conditions as Selective Licensing Designation 1 that was agreed by Cabinet on 8 December 2021. Those terms and conditions are set out in paragraphs 1.4 and 1.6 – 1.10 of the 8 December 2021 Cabinet report Private Rented Sector Licensing Schemes Renewal.

iii)   authorises the Director of Community Development, following consultation with the Portfolio Holder, to agree the final document requesting confirmation of the selective licensing designation from DLUHC.

iv)  Note the content of the Property Regulation teams HR/People Strategy in Appendix 3 of the report.

Reason for Decision and OptionsConsidered

In order to bring private rented properties in Ealing with the worst property conditions under a selective licensing regime the council has adopted a phased strategic approach.  The first phase of this approach had been the implementation of a small selective licensing designation in the three wards of East Acton, Southall Broadway and Southall Green (pre-May 2022 boundaries) which came into force on 1 April 2022. This ensured that there was a continuation of licensing (following the expiry of its initial PRS licensing schemes on 31 December 2021) in the three wards which have some of the worst property conditions, the most PRS complaints and some of the highest levels of category 1 hazards in the borough. This was known as Selective Licensing Designation 1.

Prior to the agreement of this designation, the council had undertaken a statutory consultation on its licensing proposals between 10 May and 16 August 2021. The findings of that consultation, the council’s response to the representations made and the final proposals for the designation were presented to Cabinet in the 08 December 2021 report Private Rented Sector Licensing Schemes Renewal. The consultation also included proposals to introduce a second selective licensing scheme, known as Selective Licensing Designation 2 in the wards of Acton Central, Dormers Wells, Greenford Broadway, Greenford Green, Hanger Hill, Hobbayne, Lady Margaret, North Greenford, Northolt Mandeville, Northolt West End, Perivale and South Acton (Pre-May 2022 boundaries). The streets in this designation were listed in Appendix 2 to the report. This second phase was vitally important to ensure that improvements in the safety of properties could continue to be made across all wards where there was evidence of poor property conditions and serious housing hazards.

Having two phases to the scheme was strategically significant as it allowed the Property Regulation team to gradually scale up resource to administer and enforce a larger designation. The team was reduced in line with the end of the initial schemes (December 2021) and recruitment was underway to ensure a fully operational team was in place to service designation 1. 2.7 in the report. However, it was noted in the 8 December 2021 cabinet report that scaling up for designation 2 was an even greater challenge. In response, a fully researched and realistic HR/People Strategy had been devised that would provide a practical road map to how this larger selective licensing designation would be resourced. The strategy set out the Property Regulation team’s approach to the recruitment, development, and retention of people to the team to ensure the substantially enlarged licensing schemes are efficiently and effectively administered, scheme objectives met and statutory obligations are fulfilled. Refer to Appendix 3 of the report Approvals for selective licensing designations.

Confirmation from DLUHC was required for any selective licensing scheme which would cover more than 20% of the geographical area or would affect more than 20% of privately rented homes in the local authority area.

Designation 2 equates to 56.89% of the geographical area of the borough and 41.35% of the total affected (i.e. affected by the designation) private rented sector in Ealing. This figure was of the predicted PRS without s254 HMOs, which would be covered by additional or mandatory HMO licensing and not selective licensing. Together with designation 1, this would equate to 70.37% of the geographical area of the borough and 59.72% of the total affected private rented sector in Ealing. The figure for the total PRS inclusive of s254 HMOs in designation 2 was 45.23% and when combined with designation 1, is 65.06%.  This designation therefore requires confirmation from DLUHC. Strategic importance of selective licensing for Ealing.

The government published its White Paper ‘Levelling Up the United Kingdom’ on 2 February 2022. Levelling up is the government’s moral, social and economic programme and sets out how it will spread opportunity more equally across the UK. 2.12 The paper includes commitments to improve the PRS. These measures include:

the publication of a further White Paper containing proposals to introduce a legally binding “Decent Homes” standard in the PRS. • explore a National Landlord Register. • bring forward other measures to reset the relationship between landlords and tenants, including through ending section 21 “no fault evictions”. • A 50% reduction in non-decent homes by 2030.

Selective licensing compliments the measures proposed within the Levelling Up White paper. Licence conditions improve property conditions by requiring landlords to proactively manage their properties to a consistent standard. All eligible licensable PRS properties would have to be licenced with the council and recorded on a public register. Better managed properties/tenancies result in improved landlord-tenant relations and longer, more sustained tenancies and less evictions. As well as supporting national policy objectives, property licensing supports the council in meeting a number of its own local strategic priorities, and these were set out in the paragraphs in the report.

The 2022 Ealing Labour manifesto sets out the following key pledges/priorities for the council: • Decent living incomes • Genuinely affordable homes • Good growth • Climate action • Thriving communities • Inclusive economy • Tackling crime and inequality • A fairer start • Healthy lives

In relation to genuinely affordable homes the manifesto recognises there was a housing crisis in London and that too many people could not access affordable, safe and decent homes. A number of pledges had been made to help deliver genuinely affordable homes including the following:

a) Establishing a Private Renters Association, led by renters, to provide mutual support and advocacy for the 15,000 families that are renting privately within the borough. One of the objectives of the property licensing schemes is to increase awareness in tenants of the minimum standards to be expected in rented accommodation. Property licensing would therefore support the council in meeting this pledge.

b) Continuing the fight with government to give us the powers we need to extend our landlord licencing scheme across 100% of the borough, to ensure that we put an end to rogue slum landlords taking advantage of tenants.

The proposed designation 2 would increase selective licensing to 15 wards as opposed to the 3 wards currently covered by designation 1. One of the objectives of the property licensing schemes was to eliminate rogue landlords. Implementing the enlarged designation 2 was a significant step towards meeting this pledge.

Presently eight wards have not been included in selective licensing designations 1 or 2. These being Cleveland, Ealing Broadway, Ealing Common, Elthorne, Northfield, Norwood Green, Southfield and Walpole (pre-May 2022 boundaries). Although these wards contained high levels of PRS the evidence did not show the higher proportion of housing hazards that we had see in other parts of the borough. We would however continue to monitor the wards not included in the schemes and should the evidence change then consideration would be given to develop proposals for a third designation.