Council to spend £2.5m outsourcing landlord checks

Councillors heard the local authority could not cope with managing licensing of private rented homes in-house

A council is to spend £2.5m to outsource the licensing of private rented homes in Wolverhampton.

Councillors were told the city's local authority could not cope with maintaining in-house licensing at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

A report for the committee said the authority "faces challenges" with staffing and IT and using a private provider would bring savings and greater compliance.

The move was approved during the meeting.

With potentially thousands of homes across the city, councillor Steve Evans, who is in charge of housing for the authority, admitted they did not have the staff or IT to carry out thousands of checks and had considered other solutions.

"We have got a lot of private rented sector landlords, it’s really important for the city and renters that they are safe in the knowledge that we have fit and proper landlords," he added.

The private contractor will be awarded a five-year contract worth £500,000 annually and the scheme will be funded through the fees collected which would be returned to the council.

As well as the collections from landlords, the contractor would handle issues including applications and inspections, the report said.

Next phase of gateway scheme

The cabinet also welcomed a £3m grant from a government fund to buy land and property for the next phase of the City East Gateway project.

Councillors were told the cash would be used to make improvements to ease congestion around the junction of Neachells Lane and the A454 Willenhall Road.

They approved a motion to delegate final decisions on acquiring sites to the cabinet member for transport and green city, in consultation with the director of resident services.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.