Council gives student landlords the third degree – Newcastle
Ever since local councils were given the powers to license small landlords for houses of multiple occupancy (HMO), they were bound to use it as a revenue-boosting opportunity. How else to pay for the swollen bureaucracy, the £100,000-plus salaries and the profligate ineptitude?
Small landlords in Newcastle are bearing the brunt of this. Newcastle City Council charges £1,100 for an HMO licence which costs £600 over the river in Gateshead – and only £250 in Basingstoke and £270 in Norwich.
Furthermore, this is £1,100 per house, even though the checks on a landlord’s credit and criminal records, supposedly a large part of the cost, would be made only once …