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National Evaluation of the Health and Social Impacts of Selective Licensing for Private Rented Housing in England

We are evaluating Selective Licensing Schemes for Private Rented Housing in England. This website is for people who want to find out more and people interested in participating.

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Project summary

Local authorities can choose to implement "Selective Licensing Schemes." These schemes aim to ensure that private rented homes meet required standards. We need evidence to find out if people benefit from selective licensing. This project will provide that evidence for England.

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This study is funded by the NIHR Public Health Research programme (NIHR154797). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.

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About
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Boarded up house
Credit: Jill Stewart

The number of people in England who rent their homes from private landlords has increased. Most private rented homes meet government health and safety standards. Some do not. This is a concern because poor housing is bad for people's health and wellbeing.

Local authorities can choose to implement "Selective Licensing Schemes." These schemes aim to ensure that private rented homes meet required standards. They cover the most common type of private rented housing. Local authorities can choose whether to implement these schemes.

Selective Licensing Schemes involve housing inspections. They require landlords to improve substandard. homes. They require landlords to take action on anti-social tenants. The government intend the schemes to benefit the wider community. The government states that reducing anti-social behaviour improves well-being.

We need evidence to find out if people benefit from selective licensing. This project will provide that evidence for England. We will measure the impact of Selective Licensing on tenants. We will measure impacts on the wider community – including health, anti-social behaviour and housing impacts.

We will include all the Selective Licensing Schemes in England that have run for at least 5 years. We know where these are. We will compare people who live in these schemes with people who live elsewhere. We have tested our methods in a study of Greater London.

We want to talk to different people and hear their views. We will interview people who implement Selective Licensing Schemes. We will interview landlords, tenants and community groups. For this part of our study, we will select certain schemes and learn more about them. We will look at schemes in the north and south of England. We will cover larger schemes and smaller schemes.

We want to know if selective licensing schemes are value for money. We will collect and assess economic information for that purpose. We want to ensure that our findings are useful and people know about them. We have good links with national and local government. We have good links with relevant charities. We will share our early findings with stakeholders. Their responses will inform our final report.

RegistrationResearch Registry. ID: researchregistry9775

Who we are
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We are researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Liverpool, Lancaster University, University of Bristol and University of Greenwich. We are funded by National Institute for Health and Social Care (NIHR). NIHR works in partnership with the National Health Service and is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Research team

  • Professor Matt Egan, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (Project Lead)
  • Dr Jakob Petersen, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (Project Lead)
  • Dr Alexandros Alexiou, University of Liverpool
  • Professor Ben Barr, University of Liverpool
  • Professor Frank De Vocht, University of Bristol
  • Dr Debbie Humphry, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
  • Dr Katharina Janke, Lancaster University
  • Dr Dalya Marks, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
  • Ms Rose McDonald, Public Involvement
  • Dr Maureen Seguin, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
  • Ms Roz Spencer, Safer Renting, Cambridge House
  • Dr Jill Stewart, University of Greenwich
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Kettle, and tea, coffee and sugar jars on a counter in home
Credit: Debbie Humphry

What is the study about?

We are looking at whether or not people think that government licensing schemes for landlords who privately rent homes is a good idea. We are focusing on a type of scheme called ‘Selective Licensing.’ We invite you to give your views and experiences of private rented housing and what, if anything, you think about landlord licensing. It is part of a national study that considers lots of people’s views - implementers, tenants, landlords, voluntary organisations. The study evaluates health and social impacts.

What do people who take part do?

Take part in an interview. Up to one hour - by phone or online or in some cases face to face.  We will ask about what it is like to rent, what impact private renting has on you and those around you, and if you know about landlord licensing. We will not make public any information we collect that could identify you, your home, or others.

Compensation for time.

Compensation for time is available for tenants who take part. At the end of the interview, tenants will receive a £20 shopping voucher. Other stakeholders will not receive shopping vouchers, although in the case of participants who take part in a face-to-face meeting, travel expenses will be covered.

Who runs the study?

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Universities of Liverpool, Lancaster, Bristol and Greenwich.

Please contact us for more information or if you are interested in taking part.

Debbie Humphry, Research Fellow
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
15-17 Tavistock Place
London
WC1H 9SH

Email: debbie.humphry@lshtm.ac.uk

Study information sheets

Outputs
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Consultation


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Consultation exercise: Have we identified all of England’s Selective Licensing schemes? 

Over the last few years, we have been compiling a list of Selective Licensing schemes in England. It is intended to help us with our evaluation.

We are making this information available as part of a consultation exercise. We want people to tell us if we have missed a local authority that previously had, or currently has, a selective licensing scheme. Or tell us if there is any other problem with our list of schemes.

If you know about any Selective Licensing schemes, please look at the table below or focus on the map of England and see if the scheme you know about is there. If you see any issues with the information we have provided, please contact us – contact details below. 

We think a publicly available list of Selective Licensing schemes would be useful to local and national authorities and others interested in housing and health, as there is no 'official' list of all the schemes. Up to now we have put most of our effort into checking the schemes that took place in our main study period (2011-19). We still want to check that time period, but we would also like our list of schemes to be as comprehensive and up to date as possible.

Contact us

We wish to hear about any possible issues with our list. We especially want to know of local authorities who implemented Selective Licensing schemes not currently included in our list. Please get in touch.

Please email katie.fahy2@liverpool.ac.uk preferably by 8 November 2024.

Please note that the map shows the Local Authorities that have implemented Selective Licensing. Many of the individual schemes are sub-areas within a local authority but our map shades the whole of the local authority in each case. More details about specific scheme boundaries will be made available at a later date. 

Further information: What is Selective Licensing?

Since 2006, local authorities have powers to implement area-based schemes where private landlords must register and pay a licence fee – known as Selective Licensing. These are not the only kind of private rental licensing schemes (there is also Mandatory and Additional Licensing for houses in multiple occupation) but we focus on Selective Licensing. Selective Licensing schemes usually last for 5 years and can be renewed – so the same area can have more than one scheme over time. They involve, amongst other things, inspections of properties and requirements for landlords to fix household hazards. They can be implemented in response to local problems such as low housing demand, antisocial behaviour, poor housing conditions, high levels of migration, deprivation, and crime. National government need to be informed about larger schemes but there is no definitive list of all the Selective Licensing schemes in England.

Table: Local authorities with Selective Licensing schemes in England, 2006-2021

Local authorityScheme start dates
Ashfield01feb2017       
Barking and Dagenham01sep201401sep2019      
Bexley01oct2018       
Blackburn with Darwen17feb200901jun200918jan201317mar201616may2017   
Blackpool15mar201227apr201426mar2019     
Bolton10nov2008       
Brent01jan201501jun2018      
Bristol, City of15apr201301jul2016      
Burnley15jan201415jul201415nov201601nov2019    
County Durham07feb200808feb2009      
Croydon01oct2015       
Doncaster01jul201507feb2018      
Ealing01jan2017       
East Staffordshire12sep2017       
Enfield01sep2021       
Gateshead25sep200711jan201018may201230apr201330apr201830oct201830oct201930apr2020
Gedling01oct2018       
Great Yarmouth07jan2019       
Hackney01oct2018       
Hammersmith and Fulham05jun2017       
Harrow01nov201501jun201601mar2018     
Hartlepool01may200906jul2015      
Hastings25oct2015       
Havering25jan2021       
Hyndburn05mar2018       
Islington01feb2021       
Leeds01oct200906jan2020      
Liverpool01apr2015       
Manchester03aug200702nov200713mar201708jan201823apr2018   
Middlesbrough01jan201613jun201914jun2021     
Newcastle upon Tyne15sep201015sep201115oct201515sep201606apr2020   
Newham01mar201001jan201201mar2018     
Nottingham01aug2018       
Oadby and Wigston05may2020       
Oldham01may201506jul201501sep201501jan2016    
Peterborough31oct2016       
Redbridge13jul201701oct2018      
Redcar and Cleveland28oct201325mar2019      
Rotherham01may201501may2020      
Salford25may200702nov200903mar201327jan201501jan201615nov201720nov2019 
Scarborough01jul201701jun2019      
Sefton01mar2018       
Sheffield01nov2018       
Slough01jul2019       
Southend-on-Sea01dec2021       
Southwark01jan2016       
Stoke-on-Trent15nov201115aug2014      
Thanet21apr201121apr2016      
Tower Hamlets01oct201601oct2021      
Waltham Forest01apr201501may2020      
West Lindsey18jul2016       
Wirral01jul201501apr2019      
Woking01apr2018       
Wolverhampton04jan2012