Selective Licensing Consultation

Date consultation closed

Friday 19 January 2024

Selective Licensing Scheme Proposal

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council is considering introducing Selective Licensing of private landlords within 3 areas of the Borough: Central Stockton, North Thornaby and Newtown.

This webpage tells you about Selective Licensing and what will happen now the consultation has closed.

Background information and papers

What is a Selective Licensing Scheme?

The Housing Act 2004 gives Council's the power to introduce the selective licensing of private rented homes, within a designated area. Under the scheme owners or managers of private rented properties are legally required to get a licence for each property that they rent out in the designated area.

Why is a Selective Licensing Scheme needed?

Central Stockton, North Thornaby and Newtown are all areas with very high concentrations of private rented housing (well above the national average). In addition, Central Stockton and North Thornaby are areas that are or are likely to become areas of low housing demand and are experiencing high levels of deprivation. Whilst Newtown is an area experiencing significant and persistent problems caused by high levels of crime and anti-social behaviour and is experiencing high levels of deprivation.

The Council proposes to use Selective Licensing as a tool alongside a range of other measures to achieve a more balanced housing market, including a quality private rented sector.

How have these areas been chosen for a Selective licensing Scheme?

The 3 areas were identified using a range of information, a full breakdown of the evidence and findings is included in the Selective Licensing Proposal Paper.

How does Selective Licensing work?

All private landlords would need to apply for a licence for each residential property they let within the proposed designated areas. In order to be a licence holder, they must be a fit and proper person. This means a landlord must meet a certain standard before they can legally rent out a property.

The licence contains conditions. Some of these are mandatory conditions which relate to gas, electrical and fire safety and to tenancy agreements and referencing. Stockton Council is also proposing additional conditions relating to:

general, property and tenancy management
permitted occupation
tackling anti-social behaviour
notification of changes

More information can be found in Appendix 4, Selective Licensing Conditions.

What are the benefits from Selective Licensing?

The Council believes Selective Licensing will benefit the local community as it will ensure that all private rented properties are properly managed, in an acceptable condition to live in. Some of the expected benefits include:

Benefits for landlords

raise the overall management standard in the private rented sector
an improving neighbourhood will benefit landlords as well as the wider community
a level playing field where all landlords are required to operate to the same acceptable standard
improved reputation of private landlords

Benefits for tenants

better understanding of the standards, they should expect
better understanding of their responsibilities
written tenancy agreements, inventories, and protected deposits
confidence that the Council will help if licence conditions are not met

Benefits for the wider community

landlords will be required to reference all new tenants
improved quality of life, image, and desirability of the area
less empty properties and blight
less anti-social behaviour
increase in the length of tenancies resulting in more settled communities

Will landlords have to pay for a licence and what will it involve?

Yes. The proposed standard licence fee per property is £653. This fee will cover the five-year licence period for one licence holder. A late application fee will be charged if a Private Landlord fails to apply for a licence, within the given timescale.

It is proposed that a fee discount of £50 per property will be offered for members of The Council's Landlord Accreditation Scheme, a member of Private Landlord Supporting Stockton (PluSS) or if the proposed licence holder is a full member of a national scheme, (National Residential Landlords Association or the British Landlords Association) at the time of the licence application. More information can be found above at Appendix 5, Selective Licensing Fee Proposal.

What could happen if a private landlord fails to meet the licence conditions or lets their property in a designated Selective Licensing area without a licence?

Failure to get a licence could lead to an unlimited fine or a Civil Penalty of up to £30,000. In addition, where a breach of a licence condition is identified this could lead to a fine of £5,000 or a Civil Penalty for each breach.

Who was consulted and how?

Residents, landlords, businesses and stakeholders who live, operate or have an interest in the proposed Selective Licensing areas, and those immediately in the surrounding areas were targeted directly to give their opinion. The Council did this through direct mail outs, publicity in press releases and the Council's website.

What are the next steps?

The consultation ran for 11 weeks, from 6 November 2023 to 4pm on 19 January 2024. We are now considering all representations made.

The Council has three options:

to do nothing and not implement a scheme of Selective Licensing
to amend the proposal
to proceed with the Selective Licensing scheme with a three-month notification period before the scheme comes into force

The Council will publish its findings and the next steps.

Contact us

You can contact us by email selectivelicensingconsultation@stockton.gov.uk or you can write to:

Selective Licensing Consultation, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, 16 Church Road, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1TX.

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