Like it or not, the Landlord Licensing scheme will be re-introduced to parts of Liverpool on 1 April 2022. The Council has this week announced further information about the scheme, including the costs, the areas that will be impacted and the conditions of the licence. You can find all this information on the Council's site at the link HERE and we have also listed some of the detail below.
Our director and in-house solicitor Joe Gervin has gone through the information and has put together this video below to provide more detail on the plan and also to provide his thoughts and opinions on what this means for Landlords in the City. Click on the image below to watch it!
If you will require a licence and would like us to proceed with the application on your behalf, please send a confirmation email to karon@liverpoolpropertysolutions.com.
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The scheme will come into force on 1 April 2022 and the likelihood is we will have three months to get everything set up and finalised. It will be in place for five years, ceasing to have effect on 31 March 2027, unless revoked earlier.
It is expected to affect 45,000 out of the 55,000 privately rented properties in the City, which equates to around 80%. It will apply to houses within the following Council districts / wards (also see graphic below):
Anfield, Central, County, Everton, Fazakerley, Greenbank, Kensington & Fairfield, Kirkdale, Old Swam, Picton, Princes Park, Riverside, St Michael’s, Tuebrook & Stoneycroft, Warbreck and Wavetree.
The question everyone wants to know is how much this is going to set them back. The full licence will cost £550 per property but there will be discounts as shown in the table below. We recently did an article about EPC Ratings and how it pays to have greener rental properties. Click HERE to read it and call us if you would like to discuss your EPC.
A statutory exception will apply if:
1) The building is an HMO as is required to be licensed under Part 2 of the 2004 Act;
2) A temporary exemption notice is made under section 86 of the 2004 Act is in force;
3) The building is subject to an interim or Final Management Order made under Chapter 1 or 2 of Part 4 of the 2004 Act.
If you are a fully managed landlord with LPS then you shouldn’t need to worry about this as our service will cover the licence conditions anyway. The main areas that will be monitored, as listed in the proposal, are:
1) Tenancy Management – permitted occupation, notification of changes, written information, antisocial behaviour, property inspections (every 6 months)
2) Property Management & Safety – disrepair / pests, gas safety, electrical safety, fire safety, furniture, refuse/waste disposal, internal/external condition of property, window keys.
The penalty for failing to licence the property or comply with the licence conditions would be a financial penalty not exceeding £30,000 per offence. This would be the responsibility of the person who manages the property i.e. the director of LPS Real Estate. The landlord of the property may also be liable to a rent repayment order or in certain circumstances to entry on a database of rogue landlords or to a banning order.
LPS will have admin fees associated with carrying out Part 1 and Part 2 of the licence conditions. This will be from £35 per stage of the application, depending on the complexity of the individual property. Based on the previous process, the paperwork involved is complicated and requires a certain level of understanding and methodology to complete.
Keep checking our blog for more updates and you can also follow us on LinkedIn.
