Agenda and decisions

Minutes of the meeting held on the 23^rd March 2021.

Report of the Lead Member for Housing

Salford City Council - Record of Decision (Cabinet)

I Paul Dennett, City Mayor, in exercise of the powers contained within the City Council Constitution do hereby approve:

1. Authorises the designation of an additional licensing scheme for 3 and 4 person Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs), under Part 2 of the Housing Act 2004 in Salford having regard to the evidence base contained within Annex 1, the consultation responses contained within Annex 2, the legislative requirements and non-statutory guidance.
2. Authorises the proposed fee structure for the additional licensing scheme for 3 and 4 person Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) as detailed in section 5 of this report;
3. Authorises the proposed Licence Conditions for the additional licensing scheme for 3 and 4 person Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) as detailed in Annex 3 attached to this report;
4. Authorises officers to carry out all necessary actions to publicise the designation for additional licensing scheme for 3 and 4 person Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) to comply with the requirements of the Housing Act 2004.
5. Acknowledges that approval of the designation will require additional resources to deliver the scheme and authorises officers to submit a further report for approval of resources to deliver the scheme.

The Reasons are:

Having considered all of the available evidence and the representations made in accordance with the public consultation (and not withdrawn) I am satisfied a significant proportion of 3 and 4 person HMOs across the city are being managed sufficiently ineffectively as to give rise, or to be likely to give rise, to one or more particular problems either for those occupying the HMOs or for members of the public; and that making a designation will, when combined with other measures taken in the area by the local housing authority, or by persons together with the local housing authority, contribute to the improvement of the social or economic conditions in the area.

I have considered whether there are any other courses of action available to the local housing authority that might provide an effective method of achieving the objective that the designation would be intended to achieve and consider that making the designation will significantly assist the local housing authority to achieve the objectives (whether or not they take any other course of action as well). It is considered that the scheme will complement the wider regeneration that Salford City Council is helping to deliver.  Additional HMO licensing will address existing issues of poor property and tenancy management in privately rented accommodation.  The scheme will also ensure that new landlords investing in the Salford understand what is expected of them and will sustain the strong community that the regeneration programmes have worked hard to establish.

Options considered and rejected were:

·         Take no action – this would be inconsistent with established Council policy and would fail to address the legitimate concerns of residents, local elected members and other stakeholders regarding the impact of the private rented sector on the local housing market.

·         Defer the introduction of additional  ...  view the full decision text for item 4.