Woking Council has announced that it is proposing a three-year licensing scheme for private landlords in some parts of the Town Centre and Maybury areas.
The council is inviting the public to comment on the proposals in a consultation document published in January 2017.
The scheme would require that all private rented accommodation within the designated area is licensed by the council – for which a fee of £560 would be payable by private landlords when they make an application.
The council said that it was considering introducing the scheme because the housing market across Woking was subject to increasingly high demand, “fuelled by its location, employment opportunities and recreational space”.
Woking is now the second most expensive place in the UK to rent a double room, ahead of London and behind Guernsey. The council said that spiralling private rents had resulted in some forms of private rented accommodation becoming unaffordable for many residents – and increasing demand for affordable private rented accommodation had resulted in “an unwelcome supply” of poor-quality accommodation within the private rented sector.
During the last three calendar years, the council has received 531 complaints and other service requests from private tenants relating to poor, private rented accommodation – an average of 177 each year – including concerns over disrepair, overcrowding, inadequate heating and fire safety.
The council said that It would be holding a landlords’ briefing on 27 March and a tenants’ and residents’ briefing on 29 March as part of the consultation process.
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