Southampton City Council

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Licence Fees with effect from 1st April 2010

The HMO licence fees have recently been reviewed, consulted on, and a new fee structure for 2010/11 agreed. This came into force on 1st April 2010. Any applications for newly licensable properties made on or after 1st April 2010 pay the new fees.

Background
Following representation from local landlords, the council has revised the way in which HMO licence fees are calculated and has used a national template developed by the Local Government Association (LGA). This is a more transparent and consistent way of calculating the fees. The proposed fees were subject to public consultation and comments received have been taken into consideration in developing the final structure and policy.

The revised fee structure consists of 3 fee bands, as follows:

1. Basic Fee - £75.00

• landlord applies for a licence within a reasonable time of acquiring a property, it becoming licensable or a previous licence expiring (within 12 weeks)
• landlord submits a report from an approved surveyor in an approved format to confirm that a property is free from significant (category 1) hazards and that the information on the application form is correct. For the surveyor specification and property condition report form, please see below. For a list of approved surveyors, please see the table above
• any additional information that is requested is provided without delay (within 4 weeks)

2. Standard Fee - £225.00

• Landlord applies for licence within a reasonable time of acquiring a property or it becoming licensable or a previous licence expiring (within 12 weeks)
• A Council Officer will carry out a survey of the property to determine whether it is free from significant hazards and to verify the information on the application form
• Any additional information that is requested is provided without delay (within 4 weeks)

3. Penalty fee - £1,200.00

• Landlord fails to apply for a licence within a reasonable time of acquiring a property, it becoming licensable or a previous licence expiring
• The Council discovers an unlicensed HMO that should be licensed
• There is a delay in providing additional information that is requested following an incomplete licence application

Note: all fees are inclusive of invoicing costs and are not subject to VAT

The advantage of this revised structure is that the costs of finding unlicensed HMOs are met by landlords of properties who fail to apply for a licence. Those landlords who comply with their legal obligations and those who commission their own survey will benefit from the lower fee.

The council sought to offer a universal fee that represented good value while covering the costs and it has not been possible to offer discounts in addition to the lower fees, e.g. for membership of a landlord association. However, the value of membership is recognised and it is considered likely that members will be paying either the basic or standard fee.

List of Approved Surveyors


Surveyor NameTelephone NumberEmail AddressDate Approved From
Ian Barton01425 483203
07836 711374		enquire2priority@aol.com4 May 2010
Allan Hilder 023 80283798allan@simpsonhilder.co.uk 15 June 2010

Downloadable documents

Icon Name of file Size Download time
PDF document Property Condition Report and Guidance (Dec 10) 30 KB 0secs @ 2Mbps
PDF document Surveyor Specification 17 KB 0secs @ 2Mbps
Link to download Adobe Acrobat if required

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