Croydon Council will review its options later this year on how best to continue to protect tenants in private-rented homes.
From 2015 to 2020, the council ran a borough-wide selective licensing scheme that did proactive checks to ensure landlords and agents for over 38,500 privately-rented homes met key housing, environmental and safety standards.
The scheme resolved thousands of incidents with landlords without needing further action, served over 1,000 enforcement notices and banned over 75 offending landlords from holding a licence.
The council also took landlords to court in over 20 cases for the most serious offences. These successful prosecutions included cases of private tenants living in homes with category 1 hazards, such as inadequate fire safety measures and no internal windows.
In June the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government refused the council’s application to renew its five-year selective licensing scheme. At a cabinet meeting on 16 August, councillors are set to agree to review its options over the coming months on how it should best deal with poor-quality conditions or antisocial behaviour at private-rented homes.
“Our landlord licensing scheme allowed us to carry out much-needed proactive work – including successful prosecutions – to protect tenants and make our borough a better place to rent.
“Nearly one third of all Croydon homes are in the private-rented sector, so the need for us to continue supporting their tenants hasn’t gone away just because our renewal application was turned down.
“So later this year we will review our options on the best way forward, and if this results in any significant proposed changes we would consult residents and landlords before making a decision.”
Councillor Patricia Hay-Justice, cabinet member for homes
