From Monday 24 October 2016, we will be carrying out a statutory consultation exercise to seek your views on proposals to bring in a new property licensing scheme for landlords of privately rented properties in Newham. Our existing scheme ends in December 2017.

This is your opportunity to tell us what you think of our proposals and to complete the online questionnaire. 

To complete the questionnaire click this link.

The consultation outlines proposals on the area to be covered by licensing; the suggested fees and conditions landlords are required to meet, including how many people are allowed to occupy a property.

The consultation closes on Monday 23 January 2017. 

When we launched the private rented property licensing scheme in January 2013, we listened to what our landlords had to say and introduced a robust enforcement scheme which provided a ‘light touch’ approach for good professional landlords but focused enforcement on criminal landlords who exploited their tenants.

Since introducing the scheme in January 2013 we have achieved the following:

• Within the first two years 100 per cent of rental properties were licensed

• We have issued 2170 housing and public health notices to landlords to improve conditions

• Reduced anti-social behaviour notices served on rental properties by 61 per cent

• Taken 908 prosecutions against criminal landlords

• Banned 28 landlords from operating in Newham

• Issued 390 simple cautions

• Recovered £1.6million in unpaid Council Tax from landlords

What we are proposing:

The council will be proposing to introduce another property licensing scheme in January 2018. The aim is to continue to protect our community, including tenants, property owners and good landlords. 

There are two options to be considered in the proposal documents:

Option 1 - Implement a borough-wide scheme

This option proposes to implement a borough-wide Additional Licensing scheme (covering houses in multiple occupation) and Selective Licensing scheme (properties with one family or household). This means all private sector landlords will need a licence and have to meet the necessary criteria in order to hold a licence.

Option 2 – Implement a borough-wide scheme that excludes East Village (E20 postcode area)

 This option proposes to implement a borough-wide Additional Licensing scheme (covering houses in multiple occupation) and Selective Licensing scheme (properties with one family or household) across the whole borough apart from the East Village (E20 postcode area) in Stratford.

For full details on the proposal documents, please click this link.

Much has been achieved over the last four years, however there is still a lot more work to be done as the private rented sector has continued to grow with 45 per cent of the borough now estimated to be in rented accommodation.

The proposed scheme aims to continue to raise housing standards within the private rented sector in Newham, further reducing anti social behaviour and ensuring the quality of housing and the environment improves by:

• Promoting a cleaner Newham – making sure properties have adequate disposal and collection facilities to reduce fly-tips
• Tackling irresponsible landlords – undertaking vigorous random checks to identify those who persistently flout the rules
• Tackling overcrowding – cracking down on landlords that overcrowd their properties which result in inhumane housing conditions for residents.

The consultation is being run by Opinion Research Services, an independent market research company. There will also be other engagement exercises, such as focus groups with landlords, businesses and the public, running alongside the online questionnaire.