Decision details

To approve the costings used to calculate the fee charged to landlords for renewing a 5 Year HMO licence.

Amendments to the Mandatory HMO licensing criteria, effective from October 2019, resulted in more properties in Fenland became licensable. A costings exercise was completed for this scheme, with a fee of £750 being charged for a new 5-year licence.

Those properties that were licensed in the early months of the scheme are due for renewal and therefore an appropriate Renewal fee needs to be determined.

Having reviewed the officers’ activities related to such applications on a full cost recovery basis, it is proposed that a cost neutral fee of £660 is chargeable for such applications. You are not allowed to make a profit. This fee will be charged as one amount at the application stage and in the event that an application is refused, the enforcement portion will be refunded. (see Legal Implications below)

Decision:

To approve the proposed fee for a Renewal HMO Application

Legal Implications:

Licence fees set by the local authority should be in accordance with the Local Government Association ‘Open for business – LGA Guidance on locally set licence fees’. The LGA guidance is heavily based on the outcome of Hemming v Westminster City Council in which the UK Supreme Court with reference to the European Court of Justice set out the principle that licence fees should be charged in two parts. The first fee, charged at the time of application, for processing the application up to grant or refusal of the licence. The second fee charged at the point of granting the licence, for administering and enforcing the licensing scheme. The outcome of Gaskin v Richmond-upon-Thames LBC in the High Court directly applies the Hemming v Westminster judgement to HMO Licensing fee.

To recover the costs associated with the administration and undertaking of the mandatory HMO licence scheme.

The option exists to leave in place the existing fee for a New HMO application. However, consideration must be given to subsequent caselaw impacting this legislation; 1) Less paperwork required for a Renewal Application

2) Application Fee to be separated into Admin & Enforcement functions

Failure to recover the costs of the HMO licensing scheme will  impact on the public purse and restricts the resources available to Private Sector Housing to regulate HMO’s.