Local councils have been told by the government that they will no longer be able to issue blanket landlord licences without their approval.
For five years the National Landlords Association (NLA) has campaigned for reforms to the Selective Licencing Scheme that allows local authorities to freely licence landlords across wide areas, costing them hundreds of pounds.
Now the Government has decided such blanket licences are unreasonable because they hit good landlords without necessarily controlling bad ones, with the cost of the licenses effectively passed to the tenants through likely higher rents.
From April 1, councils will have to seek government approval if they plan to implement licences across either 20 per cent of the geographical area covered by the council, or 20 per cent of the local private rented sector.
In February, the NLA published a report on the state of landlord licencing and highlighted significant growth in the number of blanket licencing schemes issued since 2010.
However, the report also found a lack of enforcement action being undertaken by local authorities.
Richard Lambert, NLA Chief Executive Officer, said of the reforms: “The government was the first to see a copy of our licensing report, and we’re delighted they have listened to our case.
“Landlords are getting fed up with being unfairly targeted and made responsible for problems such as anti-social behaviour.
“Hopefully this now means that councils who are serious about tackling poor property standards and anti-social behaviour will first look to the extensive existing legal powers they already have to combat the issues.”
The UK buy-to-let market has seen an increase in activity in recent years, with experts also predicting a surge in the amount of new landlords entering the market following the pension reforms in April.
However, more investors concerned about issues surrounding the management of a property are starting to see the value of a fully managed property from a specialist firm.