Reforms to the Selective Licensing scheme, announced last week by Brandon Lewis (left), the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, will further restrict local decision making powers making it harder for councils to license landlords.

Since 2010, local councils have had the power to licence landlords across an entire borough or jurisdiction in order to combat issues such as anti-social behaviour in so-called ‘hotspot areas’. However, the changes, which come into force on 1 April 2015, will mean that councils will require Government approval before implementing a licensing scheme if they plan to license a large area or proportion of the market – likely to be above 20 per cent of either the geographical area covered by the council or the local private rented sector (PRS).

The decision appears to have been influenced by sustained lobbying efforts by various organisations, including the National Landlord Association (NLA), which published its report on the state of landlord licensing across the country in February.

The report points to a boom in the number of blanket licensing schemes since 2010 but highlights a lack of enforcement actions being taken by local councils. It also shows a correlation between the political control of a council and their tendency to license landlords.

Richard Lambert, Chief Executive Officer at the NLA, said, “We’ve argued solidly since 2010 that councils have been abusing their power to push through blanket licensing schemes. The announcement means that if a council intends to licence a large proportion of its housing it will first need to show the case stands up to independent scrutiny.

“The Government was the first to see a copy of our licensing report, and we’re delighted they have listened to our case because at present the driving force behind licensing landlords seems to be the political will of a given local council, regardless of the evidence.”

Although many local councils are likely to oppose the reforms to the Selective Licensing scheme, Lambert insists that the Government was right to press ahead with the changes.

He added, “Landlords are getting fed up with being unfairly targeted and made responsible for problems such as anti-social behaviour when in reality they have little effective control over the issue, except by eviction. Hopefully this now means that councils who are serious about tackling poor property standards and anti-social behaviour will first look to the extensive existing legal powers they already have to combat the issues.”