Birmingham City Council launches Consultation on a Proposed Additional Licensing scheme for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs)

Friday, 1 July 2022 16:06

BCC is launching a consultation on an Additional Licensing scheme across the city on the platform Be Heard www.birminghambeheard.org.uk/place/additional-licensing on Monday 4 July.

The consultation is on a proposed Additional Licensing Scheme which will cover all 69 wards in Birmingham, made up of approximately 12,000 properties, and will last five years. At the moment the council’s existing mandatory licensing scheme only covers 4,000 larger properties with 5 or more occupants. The aim is to improve the standards within the other smaller HMOs and the management of them.

Sajeela Naseer, Head of Licensing, said ‘ We have gathered a lot of data over the years which shows a clear correlation between HMOs and antisocial behaviour, waste and serious home hazards. Licence conditions would include requiring landlords to work with the council to tackle Anti-Social Behaviour arising from their properties, have appropriate waste management arrangements in place and ensure that their properties are safe. The person responsible for the management of the property would also be required to be a “fit and proper” person.’

Councillor Thompson, Cabinet member for Homes and Homelessness, said ‘We want to hear from as many people as possible about the proposed new scheme, particularly tenants living in HMOs and landlords who are responsible for them. Our research has shown that there are potentially 8,000 HMOs without a licence and that many are badly managed and give rise to a lot of anti-social behaviour. The licence would give the council extra powers to proactively identify HMOs and join up with other services such as the police to tackle the issues. This is why we believe that designating a citywide additional licensing area is the right course of action.’

The consultation will go live at 9am on Monday 4th July and run until 9am on Tuesday 13th September. If agreed the scheme will commence on 1 April 2023.

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