Agenda item

N Beresford introduced the Private Sector Housing report and asked if there was any questions.

Cllr Bassadone asked for clarification on the process for dealing with enquiries received and FOI’s.  N Beresford confirmed there was an extensive number of FOI enquiries received across the Housing Service, certainly in Strategic Housing and advised that there had been 5 FOI’s this week.  They range in terms of service delivery requests, but also through to extensive requests around how the service is budgeted, the types of complaints we receive and how we are dealing with enforcement activity.  We have only actually declined to respond to one FOI which was because the requirement to process the request exceeded the time limits set out by the Information Security Officer and would have significant costs to assess the enquiry.  We have been able to provide the information in a reasonably quick timeframe to the requester.

Cllr Mahmood enquired how the public would know that they have an HMO, how do we educate them, how do we get the message out there that they should register or let the Council know.  What are we doing to make the public aware of the requirements.  N Beresford confirmed that we have used social media, mailshots etc. and we have contacted landlords direct.  We also have the Landlords Forum which is an opportunity for us to engage with landlords, which provides landlords with updated information in relation to legislation and offer landlords access to free accreditation schemes and training through the Landlords Forum and our partnership with the National Landlords Association.  This is an opportunity for us to engage with landlords, provide them with the support to ensure they can manage their property and their tenancies effectively, give them useful information to enable them to make sensible decisions about how to manage their properties safely. 

Cllr Pringle asked what were the main identifying source of HMO’s, also have we any idea what proportion have we identified within the Borough and how are we going to reach the hard to find ones.  N Beresford confirmed there are approximately 103 licences now.  We believe from a BRE stock modelling report that was undertaken several years ago, there could be up to 600 and 900 HMO’s in the area.  We don’t know if all those premises will require licensing, so it will require a piece of work to identify and detect those licenses. 

NB added that the processing of a licence application is quite extensive and can take up to 3 months to process one application, it requires robust checks with other agencies, such as Trading Standards, the Police and Revs and Bens to determine that the landlord we will be issuing the licence for is deemed to be fit and proper, otherwise people residing at the property could be at risk.  We also have to undertake extensive property checks and the landlord is asked to provide details so that the property is let to an appropriate standard. 

NB confirmed that we don’t believe that we have identified all the properties that need licenses and we have appointed a temporary member of staff to do some detection work to identify potential problems and enforcement. 

NB highlighted that there is an initial licence fee but if you have a property and you don’t come forward as an HMO we will go out and undertake a licence via enforcement.  We would go out and detect that property or it could be a complaint by a neighbour or via general enquiries by a member of public or our officers going out and about.  One of our primary contacts are the Fire Service from when they go out and check large properties or properties above restaurants, they raise our awareness to properties that could be licensable. 

Cllr Pringle asked if there was any sanction for a landlord who doesn’t come forward.  NB explained that it is a licence fee so there’s a part 1 licence fee and then there’s a licence fee by enforcement.  If the landlord doesn’t engage with us and supply the relevant documentation to support the licensing process, then we may be required to undertake enforcement action, which is costly and officer intensive so we work really closely with landlords to try and ensure that they are complicit with the process.  The Private Rented Sector team have been in Housing for 12 months and we have not been required to undertake any enforcement activity, which is really positive.  There is one HMO which was brought to our attention by Members and we are working closely with the landowner to ensure that residents are able to safely occupy the property.

Cllr Pringle wanted to know if it has been anticipated that most of the information will come from statutory agencies or people with some sort of specialist, is there any information or publicity that will enable them to understand their rights of having this enforced.  N Beresford said that we are developing a communications plan based on landlords but also to potential residents.  One of the primary concerns is that residents living in low cost accommodation are reluctant to come and approach us and let us know of poor housing condition for fear of reprisals, for fear they may be evicted or that they may be unable to find alternative housing, but it’s really important that we engage with the landlord to ensure that residents can continue to live in a home safely.  Where landlords evict a tenant for complaining about disrepair or rent levels, we are able to take enforcement action as there is legislation related to retaliatory eviction. 

N Beresford added that we are able to use internal data and we are currently developing our Council Tax service hold a lot of information, so we are using this to identify properties where there are high numbers of occupants in a home that may not be related to each other.

Cllr Pringle asked if there was anonymity for someone who did want to report but didn’t want to be identified and would they be identity protected.  N Beresford said that we act on complaints that come direct to the team via our mailbox, residents do not need to leave details as to who they are, we will respond to any complaint and this will be followed up by making an inspection and make enquiries with other agencies or the neighbours.

Cllr Oguchi enquired how many empty homes were there across the Borough and that due to the changes in legislation and limited staff resources we had been unable to tackle empty homes.  N Beresford said that the team transferred into Housing in January last year and our primary focus has been managing the process in relation to new legislative requirements that came in last year and this year.  In respect of HMO’s our current data shows that approximately 103 properties had been empty for more than two years.  There are many reasons why a property may be empty, it could be used as second home or due to disrepair and lack of affordability in bringing those properties back into use. 

N Beresford confirmed that we are focussing our efforts in areas where there is most risk to residents, so our primary focus is to ensure that we are licensing correctly and dealing with the complaints. Going forward we will be looking to create and develop an additional resource so that we can tackle empty homes. This may help with the demand on our housing register but also we have approximately 200 Homeless applicants every month with an identified housing need.  We also currently have just over 110 households in temporary accommodation, so it’s really important as an authority in how we bring those homes back into use and make them available for the community to access. 

N Beresford said that ideally we should be engaging with landlords to consider schemes to bring those properties back into use, there can be grants available to loan to landlords, in extreme measures, enforcement activity enables the local authority to take over management of the property and place occupants in the property after bringing the property up to standard and placing a charge on the property so that we can recoup the monies thereafter.

N Beresford said that the teams focus at the moment HMO Licensing and undertaking the stock modelling exercise to inform the strategic approach.

Cllr England said that you have gone from 43 to 103 HMO’s, but if the BRE are correct you have to get another 800% and what do you consider your capacity to get from where you are now to potentially another 900 HMO’s and how quickly can you do that.  N Beresford stated that when the team transferred into the Housing Service there were 43 HMO’s and we currently have 103 and we have 27 applications pending initial assessment.  I’m confident with our detection process currently, the additional resource that we’ve bought in that will enable us to do some focussed work detecting HMO’s.  It is important that we focus on this work as this work has generated an additional £39k for the General Fund. 

Cllr England highlighted to members of the Committee that his opinion of the Housing Service at Dacorum, as an opposition Councillor, a difficult target, which is meant to be a compliment.

Cllr England asked if we have considered with regards to the empty properties where often several empty properties are owned by one person, a similar dynamic as HMO’s and he presumed we have already crossed that.  N Beresford replied that we had, we have great information from the Council Tax department which enables us to identify which landlords we may approach for easy quick wins.  That’s currently being developed within the team and now we have the dedicated resource of the Team Leader, so we have a strong team, which helps us to build a strong approach with regards to licensing but also regulating the private sector and providing secure affordable accommodation for residents in Dacorum.

Cllr Adeleke enquired about the 27 pending but in the report it mentioned 52.  N Beresford confirmed that since she had written her report we have had a number that have finalised that process.

Cllr Hollinghurst asked about the HMO’s that are owned by absentee landlords and if there was any link to money laundering and if empty properties changing hands might be used for that purpose.  N Beresford said that there was no evidence to suggest that any of the empty homes are in relation to money laundering. We do work closely with Trading Standards and Community Safety Unit.  We do currently have a multi-agency HMO investigation ongoing where we believe there are cases of modern slavery, that’s an existing HMO, there is no intelligence in relation to empty homes at this stage.

Cllr Mahmood wanted to know if the team paid for itself or if it’s being subsidised.  N Beresford explained that some of the team members were part of the team managing the Council’s Help to Rent scheme, which we no longer operate.  The staff have been upskilled so they are existing posts within the establishment, the only new post was the dedicated Team Leader which was approved in the last Budget Scrutiny.  In respect of budgets, any income generated through enforcement and HMO’s licensing comes back into the General Fund to support other activity.

Cllr Griffiths asked to put on record that the Housing Department, certainly the Private Sector Housing has hit the ground running when it came into Housing and have done a phenomenal piece of work, which she is aware some of the new Members will not know anything about.  It is a credit to them and to the work that they’ve put in on this as to how well they are doing.  Which is why it was a late item for the budget but we put in the extra money for this particular position and I believe that has been well founded.  The ground work has been done and we can start to see the efforts coming back.  It hasn’t been an easy task, it’s been a slog and she would like to put on record her appreciation for all the effort they have put in to this. 

The Committee agreed.

The Chairman echoed Cllr Griffiths comments.  The report came to us for Members to offer comments on the Private Sector Enforcement Policy and the HMO Policy, she had been on this Committee about a year ago when this was a new project and it’s incredible to see how quickly you’ve upskilled the team and set an example for how it should be done, you have done a fantastic job.  N Beresford will feedback to the team.

Action: N Beresford