HMO licensing costs - are they fair?

Jowo_2

tbs624 wrote: »

42 local auths say their schemes have cost them nothing to operate

Do we suppose that the 42 Local Authorities who say their schemes “cost nothing” are the Councils who are slow to enforce the regulations and /or fail to take advantage of the opportunity for additional /selective licensing?

Perhaps they've done a crude calculation and based it on the fact that they've not specifically employed any extra staff to deal with HMO licencing and have absorbed the workload across their existing staff, rather than calculate the time their staff now spend on this area.

But then again, as many local authorities didn't have a clue how much they spend or didn't respond, perhaps it was the path of least resistence and easier for them to say 'zero' just to get the NLA off their back or try to impress the council tax paying public about their efficiency.

neverdespairgirl

clutton wrote: »

These levels of fees are way too high..... and will inevitably lead to rent increases

About £1 a week, though, over the 5 years?

clutton_2

whether it is "" About £1 a week, though, over the 5 years? "" - is irrelevant...


""Renewal Increase from £55 to £380 per unit."" ie per ROOM - this is MORE than a 6 fold increase..... utterly unreasonable.....



a LL with several properties is now being asked to stump up a lot of cash in one go.. and for what ?

What exactly DO we get for a renewal costing £380 - a Rubber stamped document ?? ??

This is even worse profiteering than the banks were accused of with overdaft charges......

neverdespairgirl

It does seem a fair old rise, but I don't see how it would lead to massive rent increases, split per unit over time.

clutton_2

i never said "massive" !!!

if your maths are correct neverdespair girl... then ""About £1 a week, though, over the 5 years? "

a £4 per month rent increase should cover it.... nothing too onerous for tenants....

Like any service industry subjected to increasing legislation, and therefore costs, there is a limit as to how many more additional costs landlords can be asked to bear without passing on at least some of them to tenants....

neverdespairgirl

clutton wrote: »

i never said "massive" !!!

if your maths are correct neverdespair girl... then ""About £1 a week, though, over the 5 years? "

a £4 per month rent increase should cover it.... nothing too onerous for tenants....

You did say, "These levels of fees are way too high..... and will inevitably lead to rent increases".

I don't think the level (while not necessarily fair) will inevitably lead to rent increases.

tbs624

clutton wrote: »

iThese huge increases are probably due to the Council's having spent all the money from Licensing at the beginning of the 5 year cycle, and now need to raise more money to cover their budgeting incompetence.

How similar this sounds to a post made last night by Nick over on property tribes:

Quote:
I seem to remember that the Council's went and spent all the money from Licensing at the beginning of the 5 year cycle, and now need to raise more money to cover their budgeting incompetence."

This is the trouble with the net , anecdotal stuff just gets recycled and presented as fact with no actual source being offered.


Anyway, say the licence fee works out at just over 4k over 5 years - now, the LL can set that cost down on his/her tax return and it allows the LL to rent the property out at its full room capacity.

LLs would not bother with HMOs if they were not profitable. Perhaps the license fee ought to be a set percentage of the annual rental income?


We all have to pay a surcharge on our car ins premiums for the barstewards who drive around with no insurance.

Shouldn't "good" LLs want to see some of the HMO licence money spent on catching "rogue" LLs , ie covering more than just "rubber stamping that individual LL?

Have to say that Leeds Council seem to have been cracking on with a few prosecutions of late, which is good to know when they are supposed to have the largest number of HMOs