Licensing scheme sees crackdown on problem housing

Stockton Council has been tackling issues including damp at private rentals

Tighter rules have seen a crackdown on landlords failing to look after their properties.

A meeting of the Safer Stockton Partnership, which brings together representatives from Stockton-on-Tees Council, police, the fire brigade and other organisations, heard about progress made with the selective licensing scheme.

It was brought in a year ago in central Stockton, Newtown and north Thornaby and means landlords have to pay for licences for privately rented housing, and abide by conditions covering housing, crime and anti-social behaviour.

Chris Dunwell, who leads the partnership, said the council was door-knocking unlicensed properties and carrying out inspections.

"We've got ways of finding out who the owners are," he said.

"We've currently identified over 300 properties as potentially unlicensed and investigations are open."

He added that had led to 205 new applications.

More inspections

The new rules mean the council can also inspect the homes and the authority said it aimed to inspect each property at least once in five years.

Mr Dunwell said it had carried out 243 inspections by the end of October, and the team wanted to ramp up inspections and anti-social behaviour interventions.

He said: "We've issued 130 property improvement plans, where we've noticed there's been an issue, whether it be damp and mould or a window restrictor missing."

On one day of action, 19 inspections were done and four overcrowded and unlicensed houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) were found.

"There's ongoing work now to bring them into line. That was a really good result," said Mr Dunwell.

The meeting heard more than 1,400 applications had been made to the council by landlords, with more than 1,000 already granted and work ongoing to assess the others.