Waltham Forest Council has introduced Landlord Licensing after agreeing to designate the borough as a Private Rented Property Licence Area.
This means that every privately rented home in the borough must be licensed by the Council from 1st April 2015.
The proposed fee for the scheme is £500 for a single dwelling for a period of five years, which is on average £8.33 per month over the five year licence period.
However there will be an early bird fee for the licence of £250 for a single dwelling for a period of five years.
It will be a criminal offence to rent a property without a licence after 1 April 2015 and could result in prosecution, with a fine of up to £20,000 if a landlord is unlicensed.
Landlords could be fined up to £5,000 for every breach of the conditions of licence. Additional methods may also be introduced such as:
- Management Order, to take control of the property from the landlord
- Rent Repayment Order (RPO) for up to 12 months rental income
More information on the scheme is available here: https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/Pages/Services/sl-selective-licensing.aspx
