Selective Licensing Scheme Evaluation, re-designated Area Central Bensham

Responses to questionnaires

A survey was sent to all Licence Holders and residents seeking their views on the impact of the Selective Landlord Licensing Scheme over the last five years whilst the scheme was designated. The uptake of responses was much greater from the residents including owner occupiers and tenants within the private rented sector as opposed to the response from landlords/licence holders which was relatively low. The consultation exercise highlighted a noticeable difference between the views of landlords and residents. Residents living in the area were far more in agreement that the properties and neighbourhood had improved and that specific problems had been targeted and improved achieved since the introduction of licensing, as opposed to the feedback from Licence Holders and landlords.

The licensing team have tried to work in partnership with all the residents regardless of tenure, landlords and licence holders to drive up standards and improve the neighbourhood. During the course of the designation the team have taken a proactive approach to meet the licensing objectives through effective engagements with all partners. 

Resident response

On analysis of the data collected it was noted that 24% of the respondents were unaware of the licensing scheme but provided their feedback anyway from the 
questions within the survey. 56% of the respondents were from the private rented sector residing in licensable properties. 36% were owner occupiers and the remaining 8% were in accommodation under the management of social landlords and were exempt from the licensing scheme. The pie chart below shows the breakdown of years that residents had resided in the area.

The breakdown of resident satisfaction with the local area revealed that 60% were satisfied with the local area. The respondents had differing priorities when stating what they felt was important to them. The survey asked what in their local community would the occupants most like to see improved. The split of area improvements was divided, but the highest recorded was that 23 residents all stated that clean streets were their main priority to improve the area. 13 residents stated that the roads and pavements were in need of repair and 12 residents stated the levels of ASB and crime in the area should be improved. The remaining choices were split, and the results are detailed below:

Tenant's views on improvements and property standards

The pie chart below shows the survey confirmed that 75% of tenants had improvements carried out at their properties following a visit from the licensing team.
This would suggest that tenants were living with inadequate property standards within their properties and improvements were necessary to bring tenants properties up to the required housing standard.

It was disappointing that from those tenants within the private rented sector only 50% had repairs carried out within a reasonable time scale. The remaining 50% remarked that repairs to their property were carried out eventually, this would suggest that not all of the landlords are proactive in terms of ensuring repairs are completed in a timely manner.

Residents views on ASB

The pie chart below shows the residents perception of improvements to ASB throughout the course of the licensing scheme. The data shows that 44% of the residents felt that ASB had been addressed fairly successfully. It is noted that 20% of the participants did not answer the question on the survey, this could suggest that these occupants have not had issues with ASB during the length of the scheme. 

Current position views of the residents

The residents agreed by 76% that there should be continued support from the council following the end of the designation and 36% of those occupants stated they would like the licensing scheme to continue. This suggests that the residents felt that the area benefited from the intense close working that was achieved during the designation. The data also confirms only 12% of the local residents felt the support of the council can be withdrawn now the designation had ended.

Licence holder / landlord responses

Disappointingly, only 9% of licence holders responded to the questionnaire and provided their feedback. This has meant that it was difficult to easily quantify a 
response from the surveys. The data collected shows that 56% of all licence holders were satisfied with the local area at the end of the licensing scheme.

Property condition

The pie chart below shows that 67% of licence holders felt their property/ies were in very good condition and 33% were in a good condition. Unfortunately, as there was such a small percentage of respondents it is difficult to evaluate the data provided.

However, there were 280 hazards identified during the property inspections so this would suggest that a good proportion of the property conditions were substandard.

Current position views of the licence holder

The licence holders agreed by 56% that there should be continued support from the council following the end of the designation and 11% of the respondents stated they would like the licensing scheme to continue. Conversely, 11% of the respondents felt that support from the council should be withdrawn.