“The private rented market in Wirral has almost doubled in recent years. While some of these properties are excellent, with responsible landlords, it is clear that in some areas the Council needs to step in and ensure housing is of the right quality.

“Our Selective Licensing Scheme supports improvement in the quality of housing in the areas of Birkenhead and Wallasey where it is applied. It has brought many social and health benefits along with it.

“Members of all parties have rightly highlighted the success of the scheme, championing it to their residents and calling for its expansion. This report explains how the scheme works, and proposes a consultation programme is launched to investigate the potential of rolling the scheme out to four areas in East Wirral.”

Councillor George Davies introduced a report that set out a proposal to extend Wirral’s Selective Licensing Scheme to four more areas in East Wirral. The Selective Licensing scheme had been introduced to improve private rented sector homes within specific neighbourhoods by requiring private landlords to obtain a license and comply with certain agreed conditions. A Business Case supporting the extension of the scheme and relevant appendices was attached to the report. Cabinet was asked to agree a statutory consultation exercise to seek a wider view on the proposal.

Councillor George Davies informed that Wirral Council had approached the initial introduction of Selective Licensing using a targeted approach focussing on those areas worst affected by a concentration of poorly managed private rentals. He further informed that a ‘blanket approach’ to tackling the issue, as had been implemented in Liverpool had not been successful, and that the Wirral scheme had been recognised nationally as one of the best such schemes since its introduction in July 2015. He added that the Scheme contributed to the Wirral Plan 2020 Pledge; ‘Good quality housing which meets the needs of residents’ by improving the quality of Wirral’s housing offer for our residents which was a key component of Wirral’s Housing Strategy.

Cabinet noted that the Council had used a range of tools for tackling poor management including property accreditation, healthy homes and enforcement action. Whilst this has had some success the benefit that Selective Licensing brought was a co-ordinated, targeted mandatory approach, where the ultimate sanction was that a landlord can be prevented from letting out properties.

The current Selective Licensing Scheme had demonstrated that the targeted approach had accurately identified areas of properties in very poor condition and the evidence had demonstrated that many vulnerable residents do not feel able to complain about their housing conditions so without Selective Licensing it was highly likely that their hazardous housing condition would not have been addressed. Cabinet Members commented on the success to date of the scheme, and welcomed the scheme’s extension to incorporate the 4 areas identified.

In conclusion to the Cabinet’s deliberations, the Leader informed that housing standards had improved in the areas currently managed under the existing scheme, and re-iterated that the selection of the four proposed areas had been the result of extensive evidence-based research.  

RESOLVED - That:

(1)  the draft proposal for implementing Selective Licensing in the additional four proposed areas in the Borough based on the robust evidence base, be approved;

(2)  the consultation plan and draft Business Case as attached to the report as the basis for public consultation on Selective Licensing, be approved; and

(3)  delegated authority be given to the Head of Operational Housing Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing and Community Safety to undertake minor amendments to the Business Case should further evidence be made available which should be included in the consultation.