Strict conditions on landlords in Doncaster suburb ‘has to continue’ to tackle continuing problems of ‘anti-social behaviour and fly-tipping’

Coun Glyn Jones, deputy mayor and cabinet member for housing, said the decision to extend a ‘selective licensing’ scheme was needed in order to improve standards of homes and crack down on ‘behaviour’ of some tenants living in private sector properties in Hexthorpe.

All private landlords must obtain a licence and if they fail to do so, or fail to achieve acceptable management standards, the council can take enforcement action.

The decision was approved at a recent cabinet meeting and Mayor Ros Jones said it needed to continue to address ‘significant and persistent’ levels of ASB.

Hexthorpe was designated an area for selective licensing back in 2015 and council bosses said the policy had gone some way in bringing down levels of anti-social behaviour around noise and fly-tipping but more needed to be done.

There are approximately 300 private landlords affected by these proposals. A letter and an email was sent to all previous licence holders advising them of the proposals for a new scheme.

The key points arising from the consultation were respondents ‘were generally supportive’ of the need to address ASB but ‘negative about the additional financial burden’ that licensing places on landlords.

On implementing the scheme in 2015, council bosses said Hexthorpe was ‘the worst affected area’ in the borough of Doncaster in terms of housing standards, property management and ASB.

The ward had the highest instance of enforcement action reported in Doncaster with the top four streets being in Hexthorpe and the majority of cases were linked to private rented properties. In some streets, all the reported ASB was directly linked to private rented properties.

The designation will be made on November 15, 2021 and will come into force on March 1, 2022.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting service after the meeting, Hexthorpe councillor Glyn Jones, said: “There have been some successes from the initial scheme but it has to carry on because there are still elements and issues of anti-social behaviour and standards in properties that need addressing.

“This scheme needs to continue because in some ways behaviour of tenants but particularly that we ensure landlords are keeping up with standards and making their properties that are proper homes to live in.”

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