Here we go again! Burnley Express letters

Burnley Council are again consulting residents and landlords to expand their Selective Licencing Schemes to cover even more parts of Burnley and Padiham.These schemes to date have never failed to be adopted by the council and are imposed ultimately, on some of the lowest income families, who wish to rent houses from private landlords. But this scenario is unlikely to be identified or made clear to residents in the consultation process. The art of asking the right questions in the right way to obtain the right answer, is all too relevant here.

These money grabbing schemes have been operating for nearly 16 years and have still left far too many unwanted, and often financially uneconomical or financially viable properties in the area.No amount of landlord licensing can significantly improve these areas alone and is in stark contrast to the millions of pounds in licensing fees being demanded and absorbed by council. Burnley Council has always had adequate powers to impose greater standards and efficiencies on any rouge tenant or landlord, and any prosecutions over the past 16 years under the current regime have been rare, in comparison to the millions of pounds these unnecessary and expensive schemes generate for the council.

Also any increases in average property valuations being referred to by the council can often be more associated with the general indexation & inflationary trends over time.Yet none of this, doesn’t appear to be the main driving force behind these council schemes.

What appears far more beneficial to Burnley Council, is the millions of pounds they collect initially from grazing off the backs of landlords, which appears to be subsequently lavished on uneconomical, internal departmental and central overhead costs, without having to show any profit, from this gross income which is ultimately paid for by local tenants.

There is a limit on how much landlords can absorb in additional Council Tax and landlords licencing before having to pass these unnecessary imposed costs onto tenants via the rents charged. We all need to be aware of the full consequences of what we often wish for in any consultation.