Discretionary licensing in the private rented sector
Case reference FOI2022/01043
Published 10 August 2022
Request
This Freedom of Information request is for the attention of the council departments that deal with the Private Rented Sector.
Discretionary licensing
1) Does your local authority currently operate a selective licensing scheme? If so, what kind of designation is it i.e., city wide/borough wide/single designation/multi designation.
2) Is your local authority currently running/about to run a consultation for selective licensing and/or launching a selective licensing scheme in the next 12 months?
3) Does your local authority currently operate an additional licensing scheme? If so, what kind of designation is it i.e., city wide/borough wide/single designation/multi designation.
4) Is your local authority currently running/about to run a consultation for selective licensing and/or launching an additional licensing scheme in the next 12 months?
Council Tax Tenure
5) As part of the authority's council tax registration process, do you collect data on property tenure?
Please specify which of the following options applies:
Yes for all tenures
Yes for rental properties only
Yes for council/social housing properties only
No (please give reasons why)
6) Which council department/services can access the tenure/landlord data?
7) If you limit which departments can access this data, for what reasons do you do so?
8) Is the landlord data used when assessing the size of the private rented sector?
Article 4 Directions (Planning)
9) Does your local authority have any Article 4 Directions currently in place for HMOs? (C3 to C4)
10) If answered yes to Question 9, what kind of designation is it? Please specify which of the following options applies: Single designation of an area Multiple designation of an area Borough/city wide designation
Response
Discretionary licensing
1) Does your local authority currently operate a selective licensing scheme? If so, what kind of designation is it i.e., city wide/borough wide/single designation/multi designation.
No
2) Is your local authority currently running/about to run a consultation for selective licensing and/or launching a selective licensing scheme in the next 12 months?
No
3) Does your local authority currently operate an additional licensing scheme? If so, what kind of designation is it i.e., city wide/borough wide/single designation/multi designation.
No
4) Is your local authority currently running/about to run a consultation for selective licensing and/or launching an additional licensing scheme in the next 12 months?
No
Council Tax Tenure
5) As part of the authority's council tax registration process, do you collect data on property tenure? Please specify which of the following options applies:
Yes for all tenures
Yes for rental properties only
Yes for council/social housing properties only
No (please give reasons why)
No, relevant data is collected in order to ensure correct registration for council tax purposes. It is not a requirement to collate such data. As part of the council tax administration process for occupying tenants we will ask for details of landlords however this information can sometimes not be given and therefore we would not have this information on each occasion.
6) Which council department/services can access the tenure/landlord data?
The council does not hold tenure information but we can hold landlord information (see response to Question 5). Customer services and Benefits teams can have access to this information as well as Electoral Registration (as per legislation).
7) If you limit which departments can access this data, for what reasons do you do so?
The UK General Data Protection Regulations - data we collect is only used in the manner it has been collected, not for widespread use (unless there is legislation in place that allows this i.e. Electoral Registration can check who is liable).
8) Is the landlord data used when assessing the size of the private rented sector?
Information held on the council tax system can be shared for the above scenario where legislation allows.
Article 4 Directions (Planning)
9) Does your local authority have any Article 4 Directions currently in place for HMOs? (C3 to C4)
No
10) If answered yes to Question 9, what kind of designation is it?
Please specify which of the following options applies:
Single designation of an area
Multiple designation of an area
Borough/city wide designation
N / A
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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