Clause 52 - Applications for licences
Housing Bill
3:00 pm
Mr Matthew Green (Shadow Minister, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Local Government & the Regions; Ludlow, Liberal Democrat)
The hon. Member for Poole saved himself towards the end of his contribution, when he said that the lead amendment is probing. We cannot support the amendments in the group because they would reduce the ability of local authorities to take decisions for themselves and because the Government or the Welsh Assembly would prescribe the level of the charge. The Bill as it stands states that regulations will specify the maximum fee, so there would be a degree of commonality even under the Government's approach, but the amendment removes the ability to set the maximum fee and would simply set the fee—a fixed fee.
I can see how different authorities, particularly on the south coast, might charge different amounts, but I suspect that they would not be that different. What concerns me is that there local housing authority of many different sizes and the scheme could place a disproportionate cost burden on some of them.
Economies of scale may enable authorities with many HMOs to pay for the cost of administering the scheme even if they set relatively low fees, but other authorities, particularly those in rural districts, will have a relatively small number of properties to license, so setting up the regime will cost proportionately more—before the Minister gets too excited, I should say that I suspect that South Shropshire district council will not have to license any properties.
Because the Government would set a national average figure, the burden will be passed on to the local council tax payer if the Bill is passed. I am sure that Conservative Members do not intend their amendment to result in yet another burden on council tax payers and yet another council tax increase.