Landlords in Oxford will become the first property owners in the country to have to conform to a licensing scheme where there are just three unrelated people sharing a home.
The scheme brought in by Oxford City Council starts from today and is an extension to the present scheme which demands licensing for three storey homes with five or more unrelated residents sharing the property. The move to bring more properties into the scheme is directly linked to a House Condition Survey carried out in the city six years ago. Councillors were shocked at the time to discover that 70% of private housing was declared to be unsafe and vowed to rectify the situation.
Landlords must now apply for a license and make sure their properties fully comply with health and safety requirements, as well as any other legislation. They must also have adequate landlord insurance. Landlords owning properties that are now being brought into the scheme will pay £362 for the first year and then £150 per annum for renewal. It may sound a lot but the penalty for not complying is a fine of up to £20,000.
Joe Manners, a councillor on the Housing Team, said “We have received a good response from the sector and I am pleased that they have embraced the scheme and co-operated with the council. Over 90 per cent of the applications for HMOs have been received using the online system on our website. 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.”