By Lauren Monaghan, Junior Local Democracy Reporter
Five areas of a Nottinghamshire town could see improvements in private renting standards after a council decision later this week.
Mansfield District Council could take a delegated decision on Friday (September 27) about whether to approve a consultation on selective licensing.
This aims to raise standards in the private renting sector, targeting areas that can be crime-stricken, have low housing demand, high deprivation or poor housing standards.
These licences have also offered a crackdown on bad landlords who leave their properties in unfit standards for tenants.
To narrow down Mansfield areas that the licence may help, a review of the district took place using local data, such as the Census and from Nottinghamshire Police.
The council has identified five areas that could benefit from the licences, such as streets around the town centre, the West Bank area, around Bancroft Lane, Market Warsop, and Rock Hill.
These areas have been described as deprived and have a high percentage of privately rented homes.
To designate these deprived areas, the authority needs to consult and gather evidence from residents, tenants, landlords, managing agents and local businesses within the proposed and surrounding areas.
The Market Warsop area ward ranks in the most deprived 10 per cent nationally for income, employment, health, and overall deprivation which places significant stress on residents.
The area within the Central ward has high levels of antisocial behaviour and poor housing standards with Category One hazards like damp, mould, cold and overcrowding.
A report says selective licences in these areas would enforce specific requirements for landlords to obtain references for new tenants, to act on complaints about antisocial behaviour and allow requirements concerning bins to be built into tenancy agreements.
There would also be dedicated officers per area who would have close links with environmental health, community safety and the private sector housing Teams.
A council document reads: “Insufficiently managed private rented properties
are the source of many problems and place high demands and costs across the council and partner services as well as disruptive impact on local communities.
“Selective licensing aims to address the problems with poor quality and insufficiently managed private rented housing and in turn reduce the burden on council services.”
The council has proposed a licensing fee of around £800 with between 650 and 1,221 applications expected to be received.
The council cannot profit from the scheme and would plan to run it on a cost-neutral basis, the report adds.
The authority will decide whether to approve the consultation on the plans on Friday (September 27).