On 25th June 2019, the
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published the report – ‘An
Independent Review of the Use and Effectiveness of Selective Licensing’.
The Almshouse Association is enormously pleased to learn that the report recommends
that all almshouses should be exempt from Selective Licensing fees.
The report contains a dedicated section on almshouses (see 11.4 of the full report and extracted here for ease) and concludes….
“There is a strong case to be made that purpose-built student accommodation (where operating under a Government approved code), and non-profit charities (operating under the guidelines of the charity commission) that are not registered providers of social housing, should be added to the list presumed exempt from the licence fee. In the case of purpose-built student accommodation, the code of practice adhered to holds them to a much higher standard than a licensing scheme. Non-profit charities (e.g. almshouses, veterans housing charities) provide a valuable service to the local community whilst often working on the slimmest of margins. The cost of licensing adversely affects their financial viability, and Charity Commission guidelines already prescribe good management and maintenance practices.”
We will update members as soon as we have an indication of next steps. In the meantime, if you have been impacted by Selective Licensing and would like to discuss it further with the Almshouse Association, please contact ChrisTargowski@almshouses.org
To recap on how we got here, please click on the link.
Published 25/06/19