Scarborough Council to decide on renewal of selective licensing scheme for rental market

The council’s cabinet will discuss the renewal of the selective licensing scheme for north Scarborough, which is aimed at improving the conditions and regulation of private rented properties in the area.

The renewal would be for a further five years and would apply to the more than 500 private rented properties in the zone.

According to a report and a survey presented to the cabinet, since being established in 2017, all properties have been inspected and more than 800 “Category 1 hazards” (hazards that pose an imminent threat) were identified during the inspections, a majority of which have been resolved.

Scarborough Council also identified more than 5,000 other issues such as “general disrepair or minor compliance issues”.

Five individual landlords were prosecuted for failing to apply for the £550 licence for a total of seven separate properties.

This resulted in one prosecution for breach of licensing conditions and the licence holder was fined £35,000 for the offences, with costs of £1,980 awarded to the council.

Currently, selective licensing schemes are already in place in central and south Scarborough and the cabinet will decide on Tuesday July 26 whether to support renewal of the scheme for north Scarborough, where the scheme expired in June this year.

The scheme requires landlords who privately rent out properties in the designated area to obtain a licence from the council, with landlords also required to meet a range of licensing conditions, including safety checks.

According to the council’s report, property values within the designated area were amongst the lowest in the borough before the start of the designation, with the average selling price “around 55 per cent of the borough average”.

But over the course of the licensing period, sales values have risen “just over 19 per cent” with data suggesting that anti-social behaviour has also “decreased at a higher rate within the licensing area compared to the wider borough”.

Scarborough Council also hired arc4, a company that offers “bespoke support and solutions across the housing sector”, to undertake a survey of residents and landlords on the impact of the scheme.

The survey had a response rate of five and a half per cent among residents, with 18 per cent of respondents stating they felt the selective licensing had improved the area, while seven per cent felt that it had deteriorated as a result of selective licensing.

Meanwhile, though 18 per cent of landlords responded to the survey and similarly 16 per cent felt the area had improved, 68% of landlords stated that they would not support a renewal of the scheme.

The responding landlords suggested that private renting and landlords “should be supported and viewed positively” and also said, “incentives would be more effective than regulation”.

The report does not make a recommendation for approval or rejection of the scheme’s renewal but states that data analysis has shown that the scheme has had “a very positive impact in terms of improving property conditions” of rented properties in the licensing area.