Consultation for further selective licensing scheme
Following approval by the council’s Licensing and Regulatory Committee on 20 June 2024, which can be found on the meeting agenda and minutes here, a consultation is being undertaken to explore the viability of a further Selective Licensing scheme within the borough.
The consultation started on Monday 25 November and will run for 10 weeks, closing on Monday 3 February 2025. The consultation will reach out to landlords, tenants, agents, members of the public and professional such as the National Residential Landlord Association, Leicestershire Police and other Council Services.
Selective Licensing requires landlords of residential properties to apply for a licence and provide the council with an application fee for processing the application and provide documents such as Gas Safety Certificates and Electrical Installation Condition Reports to ensure the safety of the property.
Landlords will also be required to take proactive steps to ensure their properties are well maintained and their tenants or visitors are not responsible for anti-social or illegal behaviour.
The aim of any scheme is to improve the condition of rented properties, proactively tackle anti-social behaviour and try and address deprivation in a designated area.
The link below will allow you to review the report prepared outlining the areas the potential licensing area and justifications for selecting that area.
Consultation Report Proposal for Selective Licensing Scheme South Wigston and Wigston (2025 – 2030) (PDF Document, 2 Mb)
The council welcome all comments and feedback and will review and compile all responses prior to a final proposed designation and consultation comments being presented to Full Council for consideration. Comments can be made using the button below or by calling customer services on 0116 288 8961.
You can take part in the consultation here
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Selective Licensing team using the enquiry link below or by calling 0116 257 2637.
Make an enquiry to the Selective Licensing team
Learn more at our engagement events
We are also holding hybrid engagement events which are outlined below:
| Event | Location | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Landlord, Agent and Public Engagement Event |
Brocks Hill Council Offices/Microsoft Teams |
19 December 2024 |
5.30pm – 7.30pm |
|
Landlord, Agent and Public Engagement Event (Presentation from Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government relating to the Renters’ Rights Bill) |
Brocks Hill Council Offices/Microsoft Teams |
10 January 2025 |
2pm – 4pm |
|
Landlord, Agent and Public Engagement Event |
Brocks Hill Council Offices/Microsoft Teams |
15 January 2025 |
6pm - 8pm |
If you wish to attend one of these events please use the button below to select which event you would like to attend and if you wish to attend in person or using Microsoft teams, or call 0116 288 8961 to book your place.
Book your place at the engagement event here
It is essential that places are booked in advance to ensure that individual events are not oversubscribed and to ensure that fire safety requirements are able to be maintained at our Brocks Hill Offices.
If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Selective Licensing team using the enquiry link below or by calling 0116 257 2637.
Make an enquiry to the Selective Licensing team
Details of the current scheme
On the 4th February 2020 at an Extraordinary Full Council Meeting, The Council approved the decision to cover South Wigston Ward through a Selective Licensing scheme.
The designated scheme became operative on 5 May 2020 and will operate for five years. This scheme only covers private-rented houses. You do not need to apply if the property is owner-occupied, housing association or council accommodation.
Please note: where an application is withdrawn or refused the Council reserves the right to levy a reasonable and proportionate administration fee to cover the costs of processing up to the point of withdrawal or refusal. Where a licence is suspended or revoked there will be no reimbursement of the application fee.
For the Report and the reasons why South Wigston has been declared please visit our meetings and agenda report.
The full recording of the meeting can be found on SoundCloud.
The official notice including the area covered by the scheme (Annex A) and the list of streets (Annex B) can be found here Selective Licensing An Introduction (PDF Document, 460.59 Kb). You can also view the Designation here Designation of an Area for Selective Licensing (PDF Document, 313.87 Kb)
Selective Licensing has now moved into the enforcement stage.
How to apply
All Selective Licensing Applications will have to be completed via the online form below. If you are unable to do the form online please call 0116 288 8961.
Alongside the application form you will need to provide payment as mentioned above and several documents to support your application.
The documents you will need to provide are:
- Copy of current gas safety certificate (if applicable).
- Satisfactory Electrical installation condition report.
- Proof of a buy to let mortgage.
- Fire safety risk assessment. Fire Safety Risk Assessment (Word Document, 50 Kb) Guidance: Fire Safety Risk Assessment Guidance (Word Document, 15.4 Kb)
- Copy of any tenancy agreements (for current tenants).
- Energy performance certificate (EPC).
- Information about any person(s) with interest in the property.
Any documents not provided with the application need to be submitted no longer than 1 month after the date of application.
Fees
The fees confirmed by Council were:
A full 5-year license Application £590 and on issuing of the license an additional enforcement fee of £250 is payable.
The £250 enforcement fee will be due within 1 month of the licence being issued.
If on inspection there are issues with the premises the Council may issue an interim 1-year license during which all the works to the property will have to have been undertaken. The landlord will then be required to obtain an additional End of Term License to cover the remaining length of the Scheme.
The additional End of the Term License fee will be £135 for the application and on issuing of the license an additional enforcement fee of £250 is payable.
All late applications will have an additional £100 fee (£690 application fee total). The only exceptions to this additional fee are if the property was empty during the application period or has recently been purchased.
Discounts
Discounts will be available for applicants registered with an accredited body e.g. NLA, RLA, DASH the discount will be £100 per application.
Applicants with multiple properties will be required to submit a full application for each property. The first application will be £590 and on issuing of the license an additional enforcement fee of £250 is payable. All subsequent applications will have a £30 reduction of the original application fee of £590.
There will be no discounts applied to an End of Term license.
Exemption notices
If your property is exempt from licensing you may be granted either an exemption or temporary exemption notice.
A temporary exemption will last for a maximum of 3 months and can only be issued once per property. Only under exceptional circumstances will a temporary exemption notice be granted.
Only apply for a temporary exemption notice if you are actively selling the property or have gained full possession of the property.
Alternatively a property may be exempt from licensing if it meets one of the criteria outlined in The Selective Licensing of Houses (Specified Exemptions) (England) Order 2006.
Change in circumstances of a property
If you received a letter regarding licensing a property but you are no longer the landlord, the property is not being rented or for any other reason you believe it should not be licenced, please notify us by completing the form below:
Request an exemption or notify us of a change of circumstance
Public Register
You can view selective licences that have already been applied for on our licensing portal. To search the full selective licensing register enter LE18 4 in the search field or search for an individual property by address.
Selective Licensing enquiries
If you have a Selective Licensing enquiry please use the button below to contact the team.
Anti-Social Behaviour in South Wigston
If you are experiencing issues with anti-social behaviour in South Wigston please report this using the button below, and we will work with our Anti-Social Behaviour team to investigate.
Last updated: Tuesday, 17 December 2024 1:01 pm