Landlords in Oxford who who rent out shared accommodation will have to apply for a licence under new legislation.
From Monday, any landlord that owns a property where three or more unrelated tenants live and share facilities, such as a kitchen or bathroom, is required to get a house in multiple occupation (HMO) licence. Oxford City Council is the first council in the country to introduce a HMO licensing scheme that covers the whole of its area, which will involve licensing around 5,000 properties.
Councillor Joe McManners, the authority's board member for housing, said that nearly 1,000 licences had already been issued, with more than 90 per cent of these applied for online. He said: “HMOs have long been recognised as being a particular problem in the city, with many examples of poor quality homes and in some cases being poorly managed.
“These damage the reputation of good landlords and we are determined to put this right, and stop those doing the right thing being undercut by cowboys. The private rented sector is hugely important to the residents of Oxford, not just in terms of providing much needed accommodation, but also with the impact that it can have on local communities and licensing every HMO will help drive up standards for everyone.”
Landlords are required to come forward and license their properties, and face a fine of up to £20,000 if they don’t. Cllr McManners said: “Enforcement action is being taken against those landlords and agents who are not complying with the scheme and some of them have been taken to court and fined. Now every HMO in the city needs a licence, there is nowhere left to hide.”
There is an annual fee to license an HMO and the fees will be used to pay for the scheme so that it is self financing, at no cost to the taxpayer and no profit to the council. There are additional charges for landlords who try and avoid licensing their properties and where complaints from tenants or residents result in extra visits by officers being necessary.
There are also fee reductions for good landlords, including those who own multiple properties. According to Government statistics, Oxford has the 14th highest number of HMOs in England and Wales. HMOs generate more than 2,000 service requests and complaints a year to Oxford City Council, the authority said.
