Issue - meetings

Adoption of a policy that summarises the standards and guidance applicable to houses in multiple occupation that meet the mandatory licensing criteria.

RESOLVED: That the Committee adopted the HMO Licensing Policy attached as Appendices 1 to 5.

REASON FOR DECISION: Whilst the Council has applied national legislative standards and local guidance to all existing HMOs, it is important to ensure that the Council has a clear and transparent policy for the determination of applications and the enforcement of licences. This policy should also be easily accessible for customers.

Audio recording – 47 minutes 28 seconds

The Licensing and Community Safety Manager presented the report entitled ‘Adoption of a HMO Licensing Policy’ and advised of the following:

·       The policy had been inherited from colleagues in Environmental Health.

·       The Licensing Team had always been keen to have transparent licensing policies, by due to lack of resource there was no time for the Environmental Health team to put this into a single policy.

·       There were several sets of existing guidance on HMOs, including fire safety.

·       It was usually for policy to have been out for public consultation before being presented to Members, but this was not a new policy, rather bringing existing policies into one document.

·       Therefore, it was not expected that a discussion would take place tonight on the standards within the policy and all the currently licenced HMOs in the district comply with the regulations in this policy.

·       If changes were made by Members at this meeting, there would be need for a public consultation to take place, with input from existing HMOs, before a policy could be adopted.

·       If the policy required revision at a later stage, this would be done as and when required, and the Committee had the remit to adopt and amend this.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Tom Plater

·       Councillor Elizabeth Dennis-Harburg

·       Councillor Gerald Morris

In response to questions, the Licensing and Community Safety Manager advised that:

·       This was an amalgamation of existing policies but bringing these into one overarching policy. There had been no material changes to the previously individual policies.

·       The approval of the policy would allow for a single document to be referred to by Officers and would give the Council a more defendable position.

·       If the Council was aware a property required a licence and did not act it would be liable, but the Council was not liable where it was not aware a licence was required.

·       If there were reports of multiple people living in a property, the Council would investigate and, if appropriate, a HMO licence would be offered. If refused, then appropriate enforcement action would be taken.

The Chair thanked the Licensing Team for the work done and for the way in which they were upskilling and moving forward with changes to the team structure.

Councillor Michael Muir proposed and Councillor Gerald Morris seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That the Committee adopted the HMO Licensing Policy attached as Appendices 1 to 5.

REASON FOR DECISION: Whilst the Council has applied national legislative standards and local guidance to all existing HMOs, it is important to ensure that the Council has a clear and transparent policy for the determination of applications and the enforcement of licences. This policy should also be easily accessible for customers.