Manchester City Council HMO License Renewals

If you own or manage licensable HMOs you are likely aware that you will shortly be required to begin the re-licensing process.

Manchester City Council is carrying out a consultation on The Relicensing of Mandatory HMO's to which we have been invited to contribute via the attendance of myself, at a consultation group.

The Council recognises that the costs of licensing are a major concern to landlords and have made the following suggestions to make, in their words, the relicensing fees ‘Proportionate’:

1. To make the health and safety of tenants the principal criteria and recognise different levels of risk in different properties. For this they propose three categories of license with different fees: Student halls, Bed and Breakfasts and private shared houses.

2. They are considering using different charging bands, rather than a per bedroom rate. For instance, recognising that properties with seven or fewer occupants are a lower risk than properties with more than seven occupants.

3. A simplified and clearer process within the confines of the legislation.

4. Staggering the relicensing project (subject to legal approval)

5. The council is forbidden by legislation to earn income from Licensing. To ensure that the process is self financing (costing only what is necessary), Application fees will need to be fair, transparent and related to the work involved. Landlords will be required to pay for the costs they incur and therefore those applications which are incomplete or require further inspection will incur further costs. However, the base fee will not be set to cover these additional costs so good, responsible landlords will not be paying for the mistakes of others.

To ensure that we accurately reflect your views concerning this important issue please answer the four short questions we have prepared based on their proposals.