Haringey Council is reviewing its landlord licensing scheme to assess its effectiveness, particularly in light of the upcoming Renters Reform Bill. The review will analyse the scheme's outcomes to determine if there is evidence for a need to renew selective property licensing, define the criteria for a potential new scheme, and identify areas where evidence suggests a new scheme should be implemented.

The Housing, Planning and Development Scrutiny Panel met on Monday 17 November 2025, to discuss the implementation of recommendations from a previous scrutiny review on private sector housing. The review focused on landlord licensing within the private rented sector.

According to the Scrutiny Review - Landlord Licensing in the Private Rented Sector Report, the Private Sector Housing Team is currently reviewing the existing Selective property Licensing scheme. The Appendix 3 OSTableofReccomendationsprogress update 2025 noted that a formal partnering arrangement with an advocacy organisation is still being considered. It is expected that the introduction of the Renters Reform Bill will lead to a more formalised arrangement for supporting tenants with Rent Repayment Orders (RRO). The new bill will provide a better legal framework for creating such an arrangement and will support any tenant who requires advocacy regardless of the legal breach.

The panel also heard that a decision was made to wait until the Renters Rights Bill and associated guidance passed into law before holding the next Landlord Forum or establishing a Renters Forum. The council intends to hold a landlord forum and establish a renters forum in the first quarter of 2026, after the bill passes into law and its implementation timetable is clear. In November 2024, the private sector housing team successfully recruited new compliance officers.

Other updates included:

  • All property that has an HMO licence must be inspected within the lifetime of the licence (5 Years).
  • There is already an anonymous 'report it' functionality for people to report an unlicensed HMO.
  • There are already several meetings that are held across services and a number of working groups that share data, information and or intelligence. Examples include the Partnership Problem Solving Group (PPSG), which includes police and service partners; CMARC – Multi Agency case review panel; Property Licensing Project & Operations Board; MASP – Multi Agency Adult Safeguarding Panel; and the Planning Policy & Enforcement Working Group. Property information is also shared with Council Tax colleagues.
  • Regular briefings are shared with and by Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning.

The Work Programme HPD SP 2024-26 v7- July 2025 document listed a number of potential items for future meetings, including:

  • Older People's Housing Strategy & Rightsizing Strategy
  • Housing Officers: Caseload, expectation, performance management, KPIs etc, relationships with residents.
  • TA Placements Policy & TA Discharge of Duty Policy
  • Housing Asset Management Plan
  • Leaseholders
  • Fire Safety Action Plan
  • Housing Strategy & Policies Programme
  • HRA Capital Governance
  • Placemaking Programmes and Funding
  • Response to Ombudsman Complaint in relation to Planning Application HGY/2022/4537
  • Housing Associations
  • Budget scrutiny
  • Allocations Policy
  • Housing Mock Inspection
  • Housing Resident Engagement Impact Assessment April 2023 to December 2024
  • Housing Adaptations
  • Housing Service Performance Scrutiny 2024/25 Outturn
  • Q1 Budget & Performance Monitoring report (Finance)
  • Housing Improvement Programme
  • Estate Renewal
  • Update on the Council's Housebuilding Programme
  • Voids
  • Neighbourhood Moves Scheme (Update on its implementation, proposed changes & progress to date)
  • Tenant Satisfaction Measures (Survey Results)