The National Landlords Association (NLA) and Henry Smith MP are alarmed that Crawley Borough Council could be considering more licensing for local landlords. They are concerned that the council has not fully considered the implications of Licensing for landlords and tenants and are calling for the council to reconsider their plans.

Licensing is a powerful tool at the disposal of local authorities and should only be used where issues in specific areas are directly attributable to poor property management or standards of private rented housing. The NLA does not believe that Crawley Borough Council currently has substantial evidence to justify the need for Licensing.

Henry Smith MP said:

“Without substantial evidence and justification for implementation, all a council will achieve is a tax on tenants, as landlords will inevitably pass on the cost of the licence. You only have to look at the many other councils which have introduced licensing without proper evidence or need for it to see that it has not produced the desired effect.

“Since licensing was rolled out in the London Borough of Newham, the cost to tenants and landlords has been £15 million, and a further £4m cost to the council to run the scheme. Surely councils do not want to spend money unnecessarily when they need to be tightening their purse strings.”

Gavin Dick, Local Authority Policy Officer, NLA added:

“If councils are serious about tackling poor property standards and anti-social behaviour, they should first look to the extensive existing legal powers they already have to deal effectively with the issues.”