The controversial plan which saw landlords charged for all extra property inspections in Cardiff’s student village has generated in excess of £300,000 in its first 12 months.
The additional licensing scheme was brought in by Cardiff City Council in July last year in an effort to raise the standards of property in the area.
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show 824 licences have been applied for but the Council believe around 1,500 properties need to apply for licenses. Not all landlords are happy and most questioned have been critical of the scheme.
Chair of Cardiff Landlords, Douglas Haig, said “This could be seen as a fee generating exercise. One of our arguments about the introduction of additional licensing was that it was a fee generating exercise and that the local authority had not done enough to prove that they had exhausted other avenues. The resources generated by additional licensing have clearly not been spent particularly wisely and seem particularly front loaded for the scheme. It would appear that the local authority will continue the attempt to expand to another district simply to increase revenue to keep the scheme going.”
While the majority of landlords are unhappy the council feel the additional licence was a small price to pay for keeping every tenant safe. Their view is, a landlord with landlord insurance who has five students in their property over five years will make over £60,000, so £500 to make sure that the property is up to a good standard is not a lot to pay. The council have inspected well over five-hundred properties in the last 12 months and say they have been able to improve standards for the students who are paying rent.
It seems that there is little sympathy for landlords at Cardiff City Hall with a spokesman saying that self regulation by landlords had failed and a new system had to be brought in. He asked that the scheme be judged at the end of the five year period and reminded those present that the scheme was to improve the quality of accommodation for students in the City.