Clause 52 - Applications for licences
Housing Bill
3:00 pm
Mr Robert Syms (Poole, Conservative)
We need not dwell too long on this amendment, which continues a theme that we have started to develop. If an HMO owner has several properties in different local authorities, there should be a degree of uniformity across those areas not only in terms of regulation, but in the fees charged. Under the Bill, the authorities will prescribe the maximum: the amendment suggests that the Government or the National Assembly for Wales should set out in guidance what local authorities should charge, so that we do not have somebody paying substantially different fees in different districts, and not understanding why.
I have always generally favoured a degree of local discretion, so this is a probing amendment, designed to enable the Minister to put on the record his view of the charging regime. Many people involved in HMOs are concerned about the charges for the new regime that the Government are trying to implement.