Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Director of Resources (copy enclosed).

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Resources seeking Members’ approval of the revised Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence fee and the HMO licence renewal fee.

The report provided background information regarding the introduction of the HMO Licensing which came into force in 2006.  It was noted that in October 2018 the mandatory licensing of HMOs was extended to all HMOs occupied by five or more persons, irrelevant of the number of storeys.  This had led to a number of additional licence applications and in light of this the current licence fee had been reviewed and revised to allow the Council to cover its related costs.  The report set out a proposal to introduce a renewal fee and Appendix 1 to the report set out the proposed fee along with the new licence application fee.  A breakdown of how these fees had been reached was also provided.  Members were advised that these fees had been benchmarked against other Essex Local Authorities.

RESOLVED that the proposed Houses in Multiple Occupation licence fee and renewal fee be agreed.