6. Enforcement and delivery 

6.1  Current relevant legislation and its use

Appendix five provides details on the legislative tools currently being used across the community and enforcement service and the housing regeneration team.

The range of existing legislation and tools available to deal with property condition, management and anti social behaviour are used regularly across the area, however these powers alone have been unable to deal with the growing issues around anti social behaviour and property condition.

Currently, as mentioned in section 4, the community safety team and housing regeneration team have carried out the following enforcement activity over the past year.

12ABAs, 2 ASBO’s, 2 Injunctions, 189 fixed penalty notices for dog fouling, litter and incorrect waste disposal, 12 Prevention of damage by pests act notices, 64 Housing Act notices, and 11 Prohibition/Emergency prohibition orders. (provided by Community Safety and Housing Regeneration records).

There is significant use of the legislation compared to many local authorities and this has served to highlight the need for additional powers to tackle management.

Experience of the mandatory licensing scheme that was introduced in 2006 for certain types of House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) has been successful. Within Margate Central and Cliftonville West there are 25 licensed HMOs. The scheme has allowed the Council to effectively regulate this sector using the additional powers provided by the legislation. It has had the effect of providing the council with a contact point through the licence holder. This allows the council to take swift action when issues arise, either through contacting the licence holder informally or taking enforcement action as appropriate. It has allowed the council the opportunity to build a working relationship with the landlord to ensure that enforcement action is prevented and has led to many of these properties either being improved as HMOs or the  redevelopment of the building into alternative accommodation.

By dealing with the management of the properties the council has the opportunity to build better relationships with landlords in the area. This leads to less regulation against those that are carrying out their duties and more enforcement against those that are not.

It is often assumed that the proposed area is mainly HMO accommodation however the majority of these properties fall outside of this definition.  Selective licensing will provide the tools to deal with management issues in all privately rented properties. It will ensure that all new tenants are referenced and that there is a better match between landlords and tenants. This will help to ensure that vulnerable tenants are living in accommodation where the management is capable of dealing with their needs.  The council intends to set up a referencing scheme to assist with this (see benefits of the scheme). It will also help the council to target resources in dealing with anti social tenants and enforce against unprofessional landlords.

It is also intended that the Kent landlord accreditation scheme will have a role to play in this by encouraging landlords to become accredited, gain training and develop a level playing field for landlords where poor landlords become unacceptable in the market place. The discounts offered to accredited landlords are intended to cover the cost of joining the scheme and attending the first training session.

6.3 Delivery of the scheme

It is intended that should the scheme be agreed by Thanet District Council cabinet on 12^th January 2011, the Housing Regeneration Team will be in a position to accept early applications from February 2011. There will also be a publicity plan surrounding the scheme to ensure that landlords in the area are aware of their responsibilities well in advance of the scheme becoming operative. Once the scheme becomes operative three months after the date of the designation the team are able to use their enforcement powers. The team do not intend to begin an intensive enforcement programme until July 2011 when the discounted fee ends, however after this date there will full enforcement of the scheme and the other legislative tools discussed in appendix five.

It is intended that licence applications in the main will be made as an online application to assist in the efficiency of issuing licences. It is the intention to deal with all licence applications as soon as possible and within 6 months of receipt. Once a valid application has been made enforcement action relating to selective licensing is suspended until the licence has either been granted or refused. Once granted, compliance with the conditions of the licence will be checked throughout the period of the licence.

Street by Street inspection programme

Enforcement will follow a number of different approaches. It is intended that the Housing Regeneration Team will begin a street by street inspection programme in January 2011. The purpose of this programme is to carry out the ‘Your Home Your Health’ scheme, inspect properties in respect of their condition, cross reference rented property with licence applications and to take action where an application has not been received, and to check licence conditions for those properties where a licence has been granted.

The following is a draft of the proposed sequence for the street inspection programme. This is subject to change but gives an idea of the approach that is being considered:

Risk assessment approach

In addition to the street by street programme there will also be a form of risk assessment. Thanet DC intends to target the poorer landlords using a risk assessment based on existing knowledge of the property and the management arrangements. Where there is a high risk of problems, this property will be targeted out of sequence to the rest of the programme in a multi agency approach through the Margate Task Force. This will involve officers from different disciplines coming together to deal with the issues in their entirety using the most appropriate legislation for the issues concerned.

6.4  Resources

Thanet District Council has received £500,000 from Kent County Council to increase the size of the Housing regeneration team in order to deliver an enhanced enforcement service. This funding has allowed the recruitment of 4.5 Housing Improvement Officers to carry out the enforcement work and 0.5 Housing Improvement Assistant to assists with the additional administration associated with increased enforcement.

Combined with the existing team there are now 8.5 officers available for enforcement including the delivery of selective licensing.

The KCC funding will only support the additional officers for 2 years; however the fees received through selective licensing will be ring fenced to the Housing Regeneration Team to be used to extend the contracts of some or all of these officers for the life of the licensing scheme.

Based on the new fee structure it has been calculated that selective licensing fees will account for approximately £500,000 - £650,000 of income over the 5 year period. This is based on the potential that the number of rented units will reduce during the licensing period as some may become empty, change ownership into owner occupation or may be exempt from the scheme. There are approximately 2200 rented units, however under the new fee structure a large proportion of these will only require one licence application. On average a building converted into flats contains six units. Therefore the potential income is significantly reduced than if each unit required a licence at £525. 

Based on these variables the scheme will operate for 5 years and any income from the scheme will be ring fenced towards salaries for as many staff as possible and towards the development of the benefits detailed in section 7. The staff will be matched by the involvement of staff from other services through the Margate Task Force who will provide the expertise in the dealing with the residents needs as well as anti social behaviour.

Next: Benefits of a designation

Back: Results of the consultation

• How to apply
• Introduction
• The Profile
• Legislative Framework
• The Proposal
• Results of the consultation
• Enforcement and delivery
• Benefits of a designation
• Schemes in other areas
• Conclusion
• Appendix 1: Draft Proposal for consultation
• Appendix 2: Map and list of streets
• Appendix 3: Formal Notice to designate
• Appendix 4: Legislative framework

E-mail:

housing.conditions
@thanet.gov.uk

Tel: 01843 577437