Landmark decision awaited over blanket HMO licensing

A group of letting agents and landlords in Oxford are awaiting a decision due to be made this week about compulsory licensing of all HMOs in Oxford.

Oxford is set to be the first authority to take advantage of the last Government’s blanket consent to bring in ‘additional’ HMO licensing schemes.

The council had originally proposed to make licensing of all HMOs compulsory throughout the city but to issue the licences in prolonged stages, starting this month. It had decided to go down this route due to lack of staff resources.

This would have meant that landlords would have been in breach of the law, since they would have been required to have licences that they would not have been granted. It would have made it legally impossible for them to secure possession of their properties by S21 means.

Specialist law firm PainSmith had been instructed to seek a judicial review, on a no win, no fee basis.

Now, however, the council is to vote on a different licensing regime. Whilst it still plans to make it compulsory for every single HMO to be licensed in Oxford, the proposal is not to introduce the entire scheme in one go, in January 2012.
 
David Smith, of PainSmith, said he was awaiting the latest development with interest.