Since 2017, more than 3,500 homes across the city have been fully licensed - with 1,863 more flats and houses now falling under the scheme which requires landlords to apply for a licence to ensure the homes meet the correct safety requirements, including gas and electric certification, and can demonstrate good management standards.
Selective licensing came into place following public consultation: licensing can now be introduced if an area is experiencing significant and persistent problems caused by antisocial behaviour (including environmental and waste management issues), poor property conditions, high levels of migration, high levels of deprivation, high levels of crime, low housing demand – or is likely to become such an area.
For the latest designated licensing areas, the Council has specifically targeted homes on the basis of property condition and antisocial behaviour linked to waste management problems, with six wards - Cheetham, Crumpsall, Harpurhey, Longsight, Miles Platting & Newton Heath, and Moss Side - included.
Existing homes in the scheme have seen over 1,000 compliance inspections - with 1,700 hazards identified, and just 238 homes found to be fully compliant with the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and selective licensing conditions. A further 638 were found to be 'broadly compliant' meaning there were less serious hazards that required remediation work identified.
Cllr Gavin White, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and development, said:
"We know that there are currently fewer regulations and therefore less protection against poor housing in the private sector than other forms of rental homes – such as social rent properties. This means that there a minority of landlords who we have found do not take the responsibility for their property, the safety of their tenants, nor the impact of their property on the wider community seriously enough.
“This is by no means every landlord and most work hard to make sure the properties they let are safe and of a good standard. But Selective Licensing is one of the ways we can hold landlords that don’t to account and drive up standards for our residents.
“We believe that everyone in Manchester deserves a safe and secure home. This is a basic right and through Selective Licensing we can work directly with landlords and their tenants to make sure this is their reality.
“And we are seeing the impact of our interventions, and more than 3,550 homes have already been licensed, removing 1,700 hazards from Manchester’s private sector homes that would otherwise still be a blight on tenants in the city.”
