Private housing landlords in Broughton and Kersal could be hit with a £609 fee under a new selective licensing scheme by Salford council.
More than 1,300 properties in the Broughton and the Kersal and Broughton Park wards could be impacted after the town hall agreed to launch a consultation on the plan.
It aims to make sure private landlords ‘abide by rules set by the council.’
From 2016 to 2021 a previous version of the scheme was in place which lasted five years, costing £625 at the time.
Salford council decided not to raise the fee this time despite the pressures of inflation.
A town hall report states that local authorities can use selective licensing when it will ‘benefit tenants and communities in areas of low housing demand and/or where there are significant problems of anti-social behaviour.’
Speaking at Salford’s cabinet meeting on July 9, a council officer said one reason for introducing the scheme is due to the area having “increasing numbers of properties staying empty for long times.”
Salford’s deputy city mayor Tracy Kelly said:
“It is important that local people have their say on this selective licensing scheme and put their views to us so they can help shape our full decision.
“Evidence in the area shows that challenges come with the amount of private rented properties in the area.
“Our aim is to make sure that local people have access to well-managed, affordable homes and that rogue landlords have no place in the area.
“This all links in with our commitment to create a fairer and more inclusive city for local people.”
Robin Garrido, leader of the Conservatives at Salford council, said the £609 fee seemed “extortionate” and could hurt landlords managing “one or two properties.”
He added:
“We don’t want to go back to the old days going back 50 year when we had some properties falling down and landlords getting as much money as they could out of it, we have to have some level of control.
“I’m in favour of having some form of control, but I would be against excessive licence fees.
“But I don’t believe in going over the top, we have to educate our landlords into providing suitable accommodation. I’m quite happy that they get a fair rent providing it’s not extortionate.
“We’re not talking about the big landlords by and large, very often it’s the landlord who might own one or two houses, it could be your next door neighbour who instead of putting his savings into a building society has put it to buy a little terraced house, done it up, and rented it out to one family.
“But the only people who are going to be able to afford the larger licence fees are the people that own the HMOs [house of multiple occupation].
“I don’t believe by and large in HMOs, I think that is a way of extorting more money out of a number of people put together in one building which was never suitable for that number of people.”
Council officers completed a review of previous licensing schemes in the area and found there have been positive impacts on a number of issues such as increasing property values, reduction in turnover and increasing average rent levels.
They also found the majority of properties within licensable areas are benefitting from improvements and greater compliance, with landlords more willing to do work required on their properties to remedy hazards and defects.
The move comes amid a major housing shortage in Salford and around Greater Manchester.
The council recently took steps to limit the number of houses of multiple occupation [HMOs] in the city, after numerous complaints from residents at the town hall’s planning committee about how they are impacting the community.
The consultation on selective licensing in Broughton and Kersal Park will run from July 17 to September 25.
