Birmingham City Council – Additional Licencing Scheme Approved

by Patrick Garratt - 17th January 2023

Birmingham City Council Cabinet approved today (17th Jan 2023), the proposed city wide additional licencing scheme. The Cabinet reports and decision can be viewed here. Whilst the decision has been approved by Cabinet, the decision is subject to ‘Call-in’ which is the standard process by which the decisions can be challenged by other councillors.

Properties (subject to specific exemptions), which meet these criteria will need a licence from 5th June 2023.

– are occupied by 3 or 4 people

– comprise two or more households, and

– who share facilities (kitchen, bathroom, and, or toilet), and

– occupy the property as their only or main residence.

Properties with 5 or more occupants are already covered in the national mandatory HMO legislation.

What are the fees?

The licence fees which were proposed as part of the consultation  are £755 per property, part A £325 which is due on application and part B £430, which covers compliance and enforcement and must be paid before a licence is issued. This is significantly lower than the licence fees for properties covered by the national mandatory scheme which start at £1,125 per property in Birmingham. You can read more about the fee increase here.

What about use class?

BCC are making it a requirement of HMO licences that properties have the correct usage as part of the city wide Article 4 Direction. This means that in addition to a HMO licence, landlords will also be required to pay for a Certificate of Lawful Use which are also increasingly being required by mortgage lenders.

How can Purple Frog help?

We will be working closely with our managed clients to ensure applications for COLU and the additional licencing scheme are submitted in time for the implementation of the new regulations.