Issue - meetings

Report of the Chief Legal Officer

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services that sought approval for a 12-week consultation to commence on 1st July 2023 that reviewed the current Houses in Multiple Occupation Additional Licensing Scheme in Coventry which had been introduced in May 2020, and to consider the results of that consultation together with findings from the review in a future report.

The duty to licence Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) was introduced in July 2006 through powers provided under the Housing Act 2004 (the Act), at that time HMOs that were three or more storeys in height and occupied by five or more persons required a licence through the HMO mandatory licensing powers.

In October 2018 the definition for HMOs requiring a mandatory HMO licence was changed to include any HMO occupied by five or more people forming two or more households, in effect removing the three-storey requirement.

Additional licensing of HMOs was a discretionary power that, if introduced by Local Authorities, could be applied to those HMOs which were not required to be licensed under the mandatory licensing powers.

The provision of good quality housing for Coventry residents was a priority for the City Council and Additional Licensing of HMOs was first introduced in the city on 4th May 2020. The Scheme could only run for a period of five years, during which time the Council must carry out a review. The Additional Licensing scheme meant that all HMOs, including those properties converted into self-contained flats without building regulations approval (Section 257 HMOs) required a licence.

The Council must complete a review within the lifetime of the Licensing Scheme. The scheme was introduced in May 2020, so this was an opportune time to review the Scheme as a sufficient amount of time had passed to measure the effectiveness of the Scheme. An Appendix to the report provided the Consultation Plan setting out the stages involved and the proposed reporting of the results of the review. An Equality and Consultation Analysis was attached as a further Appendix to the report.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1)  Authorises the implementation of a 12-week consultation on the review of the Houses in Multiple Occupation Additional Licensing Scheme in Coventry.

2)   Requests that a future report be submitted to Cabinet which provides information on the achievements made during the Scheme so far following the conclusion of the review, for a decision to be made regarding the future of the Houses in Multiple Occupation Additional Licensing Scheme in Coventry.