Selective Licensing

Pro­tec­tion for cit­izens rent­ing privately in the city
THE CHALLENGE

Peter­bor­ough is ranked 4th in the UK for hous­ing stock growth, but demand for social hous­ing is still high and the private ren­ted sec­tor is the only hous­ing option to some of the most vul­ner­able people in the city.

Peter­bor­ough wants to ensure that those indi­vidu­als live in safe, warm and com­fort­able homes, pro­tec­ted from anti-social beha­vi­our.

In 2004, The Hous­ing Act intro­duced licens­ing for all privately ren­ted prop­er­ties in des­ig­nated areas. Peter­bor­ough is intro­du­cing this scheme to make private land­lords more account­able and more pro­fes­sion­al.

THE SOLUTION

Approval from the Sec­ret­ary of State was required to imple­ment select­ive licens­ing, mean­ing one or more of the fol­low­ing cri­ter­ia needed to be met:

- Low hous­ing demand         — Poor prop­er­ty con­di­tion

- A sig­ni­fic­ant and per­sist­ent prob­lem caused by anti-social beha­vi­our

- High levels of migra­tion   — High levels of depriva­tion

- High levels of crime

The Peter­bor­ough “Know­ledge Hub” mapped geo­graph­ic­al areas across the city again­st this cri­ter­ia, in order to provide a robust evid­ence base for the ini­tial deliv­ery stages, and a baseline for the daily admin­is­tra­tion of the scheme which is cur­rently being imple­men­ted.