Issue - meetings

That the Private Sector Housing Strategy be approved.

Decision

That the Private Sector Housing Strategy be approved.

Corporate objectives

The Strategic Housing Service’s responsibilities and activity in relation to the Private Rented Sector contributes to the following corporate objectives:

•          A clean, safe and enjoyable environment
•          Building strong and vibrant communities

Deputy Monitoring Officer comments

Local authorities are under various statutory obligations in relation to the provision of, and standard of, accommodation in its district.  The attached Strategy sets out how Dacorum will meets its obligations to ensure that accommodation in the private sector is maintained to the appropriate standard.

Deputy S151 Officer Comments

No direct financial requirements as a result of this strategy paper.

Advice

Councillor Griffiths introduced the report to members. The Private Sector Housing team moved under Housing two years ago and have been slowly developing new initiatives and policies. This strategy has been to Housing and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

N Beresford said this strategy outlines the council’s commitment to improving private sector housing standards in the borough. It focusses primarily on private sector accommodation but also have to have regard to registered providers and owner occupier accommodation. There is no legal requirement to adopt this strategy but after the service moved under the housing remit, it was felt that it was a good idea to have a strategy in place to outline the key priorities in addressing private sector housing standards. It has been informed be recent BRE stock model report undertaken earlier this year and is reflective of current housing condition in the borough.

Councillor Birnie referred to the 1148 HMOs in the borough of which 234 need to be licenced. He asked what evidence that was based on.

N Beresford said the information provided by the BRE is made up of data from a range of sources including DBC’s information. The BRE compiled data from trading standards, revenue and benefits department, EPC data, energy companies and the electoral roll which provides detail overview of the stock within Dacorum and indicates high level of occupancy in properties. Only 234 HMOs require mandatory licensing which is set out in the regulations and governed by MHCLG. 100 have already been licenced, 32 in the process and the remainder are still to come forward and submit an application. The team will be prioritising the landlords that are yet to come forward.

Recommendations agreed.