Bestwood Village residents have another chance to take part in living standards consultation

Gedling Borough Council is extending its selective licensing consultation until May 23.

As well as making privately-rented homes safer for people to live in, the scheme also makes it mandatory for landlords to have licences for each of their private rented properties.

Following a successful pilot which started in Netherfield back in 2018, a consultation asking for views to extend the scheme to parts of Colwick, Carlton Hill, Daybrook and Newstead Village was launched.

This consultation initially closed in January 2021, but has now been opened again and will until May 23.

Landlords, residents and stakeholders have another opportunity to comment on the proposals by visiting the consultation page here.

All previous comments already submitted have been taken into account and will still be considered when making a decision on the proposal.

Selective licensing can be applied in areas where there is deprivation, high levels of anti-social behaviour, high levels of crime, high levels of migration and poor housing conditions.

The licensing will give the council’s environmental health team powers to ensure properties are managed effectively and to do more when landlords are not taking steps to deal with issues relating to property standards

The pilot scheme in Netherfield saw more than 400 private rented properties inspected by the council’s environmental health officers, and of those, 78 per cent were identified as requiring remedial works to bring them up to the minimum legal standard and protect the health and safety of tenants.

Coun John Clarke (Lab), council leader, said: “Creating safer communities for our residents and reducing hardship and inequality is a key priority for the council, and this scheme will help contribute towards that ambition.

We’ve seen the benefits that selective licensing has made to residents living in private rented properties in Netherfield, and we want to be able to extend this to other parts of the borough.

“Through schemes like this we are able to make real changes for residents and work with landlords to not only make their homes safer, but to improve the standard of living for hundreds, if not thousands of residents.

“We want people to get involved with this and give us their views, so we can build on the work we’ve carried out in Netherfield already and fulfil our ethos of serving people, improving lives.”