Landlord licensing: key court case next week

The hearing that will determine whether there will be a judicial review of another council’s landlord licensing scheme will take place next week.

The Croydon Property Forum, a group of property professionals in the Croydon area, wants to overturn the local council proposal to introduce compulsory licensing of landlords, who from October are faced with having to pay £750 per property every five years. 

An announcement on the campaign’s website says the hearing will take place on Tuesday August 4.

Croydon council claims the scheme would raise standards of accommodation and tackle alleged anti-social behaviour in the private rental sector.

Many landlords and landlord bodies have opposed the scheme, as has the Conservative opposition group on the Labour-controlled authority. The scheme was agreed by the council shortly before the former coalition government announced that such measures would require explicit ministerial approval in future.

We have extensively reported on Enfield’s Labour-led council’s recent abandonment of a landlord licensing scheme following a successful judicial review by just one landlord.

Croydon Property Forum Ltd is a not for profit company that has been formed, in its own words, “to protect the interests of Croydon landlords and to protect the identities of its members who are challenging Croydon Council over its pending borough wide landlord licensing scheme which in our opinion is unjust to private landlords and tenants, and damaging to the interests of the London Borough of Croydon.” 

It consists of letting agents, landlords and developers.