Oxford to require every HMO in area to be licensed

Oxford City Council has become the first local authority in the country to require every house in multiple occupation (HMO) to be licensed.

The council’s licensing scheme, which covers the whole of its area, is being introduced in two phases.

From today (24 January), all three or more storey HMOs and all two storey HMOs that contain five or more tenants will require a licence. All remaining HMOs will require a licence from January 2012, Oxford said.

The council believes that the initiative will involve licensing approximately 4,000 properties in total.

Cllr Joe McManners, Oxford’s board member for housing, said: “HMOs have long been recognised as being a particular problem in the city, providing the worst homes and in many cases being poorly managed.

“The private rented sector is hugely important to the residents of Oxford, not just in terms of providing much needed accommodation, but also with the impact that it can have on local communities and licensing every HMO will help drive up standards for everyone.”

Cllr McManners added that the council had designed the scheme to be self financing, with an annual fee.

The charging regime has also been developed to incentivise good landlords, including those with multiple properties. It will also punish those that try and avoid licensing their properties, or where complaints from tenants or residents mean extra visits by council officers are necessary.

The council said: “Every HMO will be inspected before a licence is issued and the council [is] able to specify conditions on the licence that the licence holder must comply with or face legal action.

“If problems occur with poor management or unsafe conditions, legal action can be taken which may result in the licence holder losing their licence and their ability to run HMOs.”

The local authority added that those landlords who had already been found guilty of relevant offences would not be able to hold a licence for an HMO and would have to find someone else, such as a reputable letting agent, to run their properties for them.