PRESS/MEDIA RELEASE

Durham County Council are forcing a landlord group which provides affordable and social rental accommodation to withdraw from the county. The group cite the council's "greed and anti-private landlord stance" as the reasons.

Durham County Council introduced selective licensing a number of years ago, at a cost of £565 per property for five years. Since its inception, our experience has been that the council have delivered no benefits whatsoever and in one case when they were asked to help, they refused.

Greedily, the council refuse to offer any pro-rata refund where a landlord sells their property to another landlord, plus they demand the full fee from the new landlord, netting them double! Clearly the aim of the scheme is purely to over-tax private landlords as much as possible. As the scheme is ending in 2027, the council are also now demanding the full fee for just a few months registration.

In a recent case, a tenant who had been accepted for a property had to then be declined because the council demanded £565.00 for two months' registration, making renting it out financially unviable. The property in question was withdrawn meaning one less affordable and much-needed home available in County Durham.

The group say that the council has a very anti-landlord stance, and through our dealings with them as agents, we would support this statement. The council seem to place a great deal of kudos on "landlord-bashing" as this is a vote pleaser with renters. However, with the loss of yet more affordable social housing, their policy is backfiring badly.

The group also complain that the council take a discriminatory approach against landlords when it relates to council tax and are eager to “rush landlords to court” for the slightest arrears.

With around 7,500 people in the county claiming homelessness each year, Durham Council's anti-landlord ethos will only make that figure worse.

Note: Durham County Council were given a draft of this release and invited to comment but have not yet done so. We understand that a reply will be made.