Agenda item

Note:              Councillor Bailey left the meeting at this juncture.

The Housing and Environmental Enforcement Manager introduced the report which set out the Council’s commitment to make improvements to the Private Rented Sector (PRS) and detailed proposals for 2024-26. Members agreed at their meeting in September 2023 that a policy should be developed, and clear working objectives should be set to deliver improvements and promote better communication between the Council, tenants, and landlords. Following this, officers had developed the policy, Chairs and Vice Chairs were consulted, and a meeting had taken place to update Members on the progress of the development of the policy.

It was explained that section 4 of the report highlighted the financial information, and the Housing and Environmental Enforcement Manager suggested that the £19.1k in enforcement reserves and £35k from the revenue budget be utilised to fund the work as detailed in the table. The Council’s commitment at Appendix 1 of the report outlined the various areas of work, such as enforcement and standards, and tenancy support. As part of the government’s regulatory reform work in Private Sector Housing, the Council had been invited to take part in the Healthy Homes project pilot, which would gather data on damp and mould within the PRS. The Housing and Environmental Enforcement Manager explained that 90 councils were selected to participate in the project, with responses required by 29 March 2024.

During the course of the debate, Members expressed their support of the Council participating in the Healthy Homes project and it was felt that West Lindsey had a unique challenge as a rural authority and sparsely populated district. The deterioration of health and wellbeing was stressed as a significant side effect of living with damp and mould, and Members expressed concern for residents in the district who lived further away from medical services.

It was asked whether the training programme could be delivered inhouse, in response to which the Housing and Environmental Enforcement Manager explained that the training was specialist, and recommended by the LGA, and would enable the Council to receive external expertise on how to provide advice to landlords. Members suggested an accreditation scheme for landlords as an incentive for them to join and encourage communication with the Council.

The Private Rented Sector work was praised, and the issue of damp and mould was recognised as a national housing problem affecting residents.

Having been moved and seconded, the Chairman took the vote en bloc and it was unanimously

RESOLVED that

a)    the Private Rented Sector Commitment as shown in appendix 1 be approved; and

b)    the Private Rented Sector Commitment be scheduled for review at the Prosperous Communities Committee in 24 months; and

c)    the £35k made available to Prosperous Communities Committee for selective licensing work, as agreed at Corporate Policy and Resources Committee on 11 November 2021, be made available to support the work within the Private Rented Sector Commitment; and any balance remaining at year end 2023/2024 be carried forward into 2024/2025; and

d)    the Council engage in the Healthy Homes Project with DLUHC; and

e)    an urgent item be taken to the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee on 21 March 2024 to approve that the Council commits to seeking the required grant funding.