Letting agents have eight weeks to comply with new Northern scheme
The Merseyside scheme requires agents and landlords to submit their applications for a licence by August 31st and so far 600 have been received.
Letting agents and landlords in Merseyside have been warned that there are just eight weeks left to apply for a licence after the borough Council’s extension to its Selective and Additional (Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO)) Licensing schemes for private rented homes.
The extension to the Selective and Additional (HMO) Licensing schemes came into effect on March 1st this year and last until the end of March 2028.
AUGUST DEADLINE
The scheme in Sefton requires agents and landlords affected to submit their applications for a licence by Thursday August 31st. So far 600 applications have been received.
Since Sefton Council introduced Selective and Additional (HMO) Licensing in 2018 over 3,000 serious health and safety hazards, including problems with fire safety, electrical hazards, damp and mould and excess cold have been removed from properties in the Borough, similar to the one’s pictured in Crosby.
Councillor Trish Hardy, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing, says: “Around 3,900 private rented properties across the Borough are registered through our Selective and Additional (HMO) Licensing schemes, which have enabled us the Council to step in and deal with poor management and the thousands of hazards being faced by tenants.
letting agents
“Landlords of these and those of any other privately rented properties in the three licensing areas across the Borough need to submit a licence application with us by the end of August.
“Although the Licensing schemes remain in place, we are usually able to work with landlords to resolve situations informally, but they do give us additional formal enforcement action powers and we will use them if we have to.”
