Using licensing schemes to improve housing standards

Licensing provides a means for local authorities to inspect privately rented housing using enforceable conditions - and to identify and resolve problems - without the need for tenants to have complained. It also provides locally tailored regulation of the sector. It makes major contributions to area-based issues, such as crime, anti-social behaviour and waste management, and brings together a range of bodies to focus additional support services for landlords and tenants, improving public health and reducing burdens on the NHS.

Licensing schemes pay for themselves through the fees that are charged. They thereby provide a sustainable and predictable source of income that enables local authorities to maintain staffing levels and support the training of new officers.

Licensing schemes also allow local authorities to target regulation on where it is most needed, i.e. on tackling the worst landlords and supporting the most vulnerable tenants.

What are we doing?

In November 2022 we wrote a letter to The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. We argued that selective licensing schemes had a crucial role in delivering the Government's levelling up agenda, especially in delivering the commitment to halving the number of non-decent homes across all tenures by 2030. The letter reflected recommendations in the report A licence to rent that was produced by the Chartered Institute of Housing and CIEH.

In November 2023 we published written evidence submitted to the Renters (Reform) Bill Committee. We expressed concerns about suggestions that the proposed Property Portal removed the need for selective licensing schemes. We suggested that the portal should be a tool to support the use of licensing schemes by local authorities. We also recommended amendments to the Bill that would have enabled local authorities operating selective licensing schemes to use licence conditions to improve housing conditions and increased the maximum duration of discretionary licensing schemes from five to ten years.

In April 2024 we sent a parliamentary briefing to MPs for the report stage of the Renters (Reform) Bill in the House of Commons. We urged them to reject an amendment tabled by government backbenchers that would have removed the ability of local housing authorities to designate areas as subject to selective licensing. The Government confirmed in the debate that it did not want to see selective licensing abolished.

In July 2024 we wrote a letter to The Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. We urged the Government to use the legislation on the private rented sector that was expected to be announced in the King's Speech as an opportunity to make it easier for local authorities to use licensing schemes to improve housing standards.

In November 2024 Green MP and co-leader Carla Denyer supported CIEH positions on licensing in a speech to a committee of MPs scrutinising the Renters’ Rights Bill. She was speaking on a CIEH-backed amendment which she had tabled and on which we had sent a parliamentary briefing to members of the committee.

In December 2024 we hailed a major victory on removal of the requirement for councils to seek approval from the Secretary of State for larger selective licensing schemes. A new general approval for selective licensing enables local housing authorities to introduce schemes of any size without seeking such approval. We had repeatedly called for this specific change, which will make a significant difference to the ability of local authorities to tackle poor housing conditions, and are delighted that the Government has now addressed this important issue.

In January 2025 Carla Denyer MP spoke in the House of Commons on two amendments on licensing from CIEH that she had tabled for the report stage of the Renters' Rights Bill. These amendments, which were not put to a vote, would remove other unnecessary barriers to the use of licensing schemes to improve housing standards. They have now been tabled by Lord Shipley for discussion at committee stage in the House of Lords.

What are we calling for

We are calling for the Government to make it easier for local authorities to use licensing schemes to improve housing standards by

• enabling local authorities operating selective licensing schemes to use licence conditions to improve housing conditions
• increasing the maximum duration of discretionary licensing schemes from five to ten years
• removing the requirement for local authorities establishing selective licensing schemes to ensure that the private rented sector forms a high proportion of properties in the area

Further information

Find out more about what the Housing Advisory Panel is working on.