Councillors in Wrexham have voted in favour of a tough scheme to introduce brand new licensing laws for landlords in the town. Under the strict new licensing laws, any landlord who owns shared houses, bedsits, and properties converted into multiple occupancy dwellings must apply for a five-year license costing £700. Once a license has been applied for, inspectors will come and view the property before granting the license to the landlord.
The legislation has been introduced to try and reduce the level of sub-standard housing in the area and councillors hope that the licensing laws will dissuade slum landlords from continuing to operate property rental businesses without bothering to spend their profits providing decent bathrooms, kitchens and fire escapes.
Since I don’t fall into the category of “slum landlord”, I can see the sense behind the legislation, but as has already been pointed out by critics of the scheme, there is a danger that introducing the rather steep £700 license charge will deter new landlords from entering the property rental business, or worse, encourage existing landlords to put up their property rents in a bid to off-set their increased costs.
However, there is no doubt in my mind that there needs to be some kind of legislation in place to discourage rogue landlords from cashing in on the increasing demand for rental properties, and it would appear that Wrexham landlords agree with me since they and the public were consulted before the legislation was passed and the majority were in favour of the move.
