Stockton’s new selective licensing scheme has resulted in a fierce row, with landlords claiming it is damaging the rental market and driving out investment, while the council insists it is improving standards.

Landlords say the scheme is costly, heavy-handed and “futile”, with some warning they will sell up or challenge enforcement action. One said: “We are not babysitters and cannot control how tenants conduct their lives,” while another warned: “I’ll just sell my properties.”

Aman Khurram has called the policy “a cash cow for the council. At least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask.”

Own goal

Others labelled licensing an “own goal” and a “hopeless money-making enterprise” and are threatening legal challenges to the council at First-tier Tribunals.

It’s not just landlords who are angry, tenant Wayne Elgey told Teesside Live that he is “fed up of getting knocks at the door from council officers. He says: “They think they are helping us tenants.

“Well, I have a message to them, ‘no, you aren’t, leave me in peace, I don’t want you round, and you’re not coming in.'”

Ultimately, the scheme aims to improve the condition and management of private sector housing.”

Councillor Richard Eglington (pictured), though, has defended the Council, saying: “Ultimately, the scheme aims to improve the condition and management of private sector housing and is seeing positive outcomes for both landlords and tenants.

He points out that before the implementation of the scheme, “The Council consulted extensively with landlords, managing agents and those living in the proposed selective licensing areas to seek views on the proposals. As part of that process, all feedback was considered before a decision was taken.”