Council installs system to register and track rented
properties
Sheffield City Council has installed an IT system to help it
comply with new regulations that affect how it regulates private
sector landlords.
The authority – one of the UK’s largest metropolitan councils –
had to licence 3,000 homes in multiple occupation (HMOs) when
regulations brought in under the Housing Act 2004 came into force
on 6 April this year. Under the terms of the act, HMOs are all
rented properties with three or more storeys, and with five or more
people living in them.
The regulations require local councils to licence HMOs for the
first time. Previously, housing teams were registering the
buildings using a different business process, but the new system,
Civica Public Protection, involves a more in-depth assessment of
the state of repair of properties, applying a detailed health and
safety rating system.
From October this year, the system will also be used to provide
the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister with information relating
to the management of the properties.
The ODPM will require all local authorities to file regulatory
returns on 50 different aspects of the new system six months after
its introduction.
Sheffield Council used Civica Public Protection to register and
track the HMOs in the city, and also to establish the business
processes it needed to put in place in order to licence the
properties.
The council’s private sector housing team has licensed 3,000
HMOs that meet the government’s criteria for mandatory licensing,
and estimates that Sheffield has a further 3,000 HMOs that will
require licensing.
By April next year, the authority will begin using a mixture of
selective licensing and area initiatives to increase the number of
properties it regulates directly.
The Civica Public Protection system cost Sheffield Council
£20,000 to implement.