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Labour Leader Argues For Licensing For All In Portsmouth

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Bad-Behaviour

In a letter to the Portsmouth daily paper, The News, Councillor Cal Corkery argued for city-wide licensing for every property rented in the private sector.

Read on to see our response 

PDPLA Response 

Councillor Corkery's plea for a city-wide landlord licensing scheme raises a few questions. For a start, what is the problem he is trying to fix? We agree a central register of who owns what would help identify who is responsible for failings, but this plan is already in the Renters Reform Bill.

Windsor House is still a nightmare for the tenants who live there – but sadly, the council struggle to help and Licensing will not make a difference. Then there was that poor couple featured in The News who were overrun by mice – but no, that was a council house so no advantage from Licensing there. Hundreds of homes at risk of gas explosion as gas checks were forgotten – nope, that was social housing too. We struggle to see what diverting council resources to maintaining another level of bureaucracy would do, when there are obviously enough real problems for them to focus on already.

In defence of the Oxford scheme which the councillor wants us to mirror, they reduce charges for accredited landlords – it costs less than 1/3rd of the price there as it does here. This was the reason that Portsmouth rents rose so much more than other areas last time we had a change in Licensing rules for rented properties. Is that really what Councillor Corkery wants? 

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About the author

Martin Silman

Martin began his landlord journey 30 years ago, while working in an international role for a global telecommunications company. Since retiring he has extended his portfolio, which he manages with his wife, but has always focussed on the ‘small student HMO’ sector preferring to offer homes in the community for small groups to the more common ‘pack them in and take the money’ mentality. He has chaired the PDPLA for the past 12 years and has overseen the Associations transition from small local self-help group to a much larger and more professional institution which is recognised and listened to nationally. Alongside his PDPLA role, he also has leadership roles in a number of other local organisations – bringing his unique perspective, driving for change and increased use of technology while respecting the history that brought us here.

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