Clause 44 - Licensing of HMOs to which this Part applies
Housing Bill
4:00 pm
Mr Matthew Green (Ludlow, Liberal Democrat)
The Minister said that he will not be enticed into widening the system, but, because of the difficulties for local authorities, in the first stage he might not want to include too many properties. Can he say whether, perhaps in a year or two, he will revisit the regulations to include more properties? He should be able to say whether that is completely out of the question—which I am sure would reassure some property landlords—or whether the Government intend to review the scheme. If they review it and decide to widen the scheme beyond those local authorities that take it up, many people will understand the logic of doing that step by step, so that it is not overloaded on day one. I should very much appreciate it if the Minister would make it clear whether this is as far as we go or whether more can be done.