Licence applicants would be required to be ‘fit and proper’ as defined in Housing Act 2004 in the same way that already exists under the Mandatory Licensing scheme.

Where an HMO does not meet the Council’s HMO Licensing & Planning Permission Policy, the licence application will not be processed.

Applicants would be required to submit the same application documents and sets of safety certificates as they would for Mandatory HMO Licensing.

All HMOs would be subject to a full inspection before being considered for licensing. Where the HMO is found to seriously sub-standard it would not be licensed. Where certain works may be required to meet the Councils standards these would be required to be completed either before a licence is granted or within a prescribed timescale specified as a licence condition, depending on the nature of the works.

Licences would be issued for a 5-year period. However, in the event that serious breaches of conditions are discovered, or certain other forms of statutory action are taken, the 5-year licence may be replaced with a 2-year licence or alternatively a civil penalty could be imposed or a prosecution for the most serious offenders.