Some landlords in Lambeth will need a £923 license to rent out their properties

Landlords will be forced to buy a £923 license to rent out properties in certain areas of Lambeth under a council plan to tackle poor quality homes and reduce anti-social behaviour.

People renting a single property to fewer than three households in Knight’s Hill, Streatham Common and Vale, Streatham Hill East and Streatham St Leonard’s will need to buy a license from September.

The four areas of Lambeth were chosen to launch the scheme because properties in these wards have almost double the national average of serious hazards.

Around 8,600 properties across the four wards are expected to come under the new selective licensing regime, which will run for five years until 2029.

The Labour-led council plans to outline plans to extend the scheme to a wider area of ​​the borough in the autumn. Under the proposals, the scheme would be extended to all boroughs in the borough except Vauxhall and Waterloo and South Bank.

National legislation only allows councils to introduce licensing schemes in areas where there is sufficient evidence of poor housing. The council failed to find enough evidence of poor quality housing in Vauxhall and Waterloo and the South Bank to support the introduction of the scheme there.

Landlords with properties with an energy performance rating of C or above will receive a £50 discount on the proposed license cost of £923. Those who are part of an accredited homeowners association will receive a £75 discount. Landlords who own more than one apartment in a block will also receive a discount.

The first stage of the scheme covering Knight’s Hill, Streatham Common and Vale, Streatham Hill East and Streatham St Leonard’s was approved at a Lambeth Council cabinet meeting last Thursday (May 16).

Around a third of Lambeth’s 144,985 homes are privately rented and government and council figures suggest 9,446 of these could be at serious risk. Officials believe around 39,851 properties in the borough could be included in the new selective licensing regime.

Around 5,000 privately rented homes in the borough are already covered by two other licensing schemes. From 2018, all properties let to five or more unrelated people sharing a kitchen or bathroom need a license under national rules. In addition, an existing scheme run by the council requires some landlords renting properties for three or four households sharing facilities to obtain a licence.

Cllr Mahamed Hashi, the council’s cabinet member for safer communities, said: “This scheme will provide more support for vulnerable residents, improved premises conditions (and) help reduce overcrowding. Ultimately, it will lead to better housing for our residents.

“While most landlords provide good quality and safe accommodation, there are some who take advantage of their tenants or do not know what their responsibilities are. Licensing will help us crack down on rogue landlords and crack down on housing crime.”

Lambeth is the latest in a string of councils in south London to introduce a licensing scheme for landlords renting flats to one or two households. Southwark Council extended its licensing scheme for such properties to cover a total of 19 wards in November 2023.

In Lewisham, landlords letting properties to fewer than three households will need a license from 1 July. Lewisham’s scheme is expected to cover a further 20,000 properties in the borough, where a quarter of residents are private renters.