Rise urged in fees for shared houses

Tragedies such as Scarborough's Richmond Hotel fire 16 years ago led to the introduction as a national licensing scheme for bedsits, shared houses, hostels, and other "houses in multiple occupation" (HMOs).

However, a report to Scarborough Council underlines that the fees for running the licensing system and visits to premises by council environmental health and housing officers have not kept pace with other authorities.

Head of environmental services Andy Skelton said: "The council is required by law to both undertake the mandatory licensing of HMOs and to carry out enforcement of housing standards where required."

Local authorities are required to set fees based on local circumstances as long as the amounts are reasonable and are designed to cover the Council's costs, he added.

The scale of charges was designed to enable the Council to recover the cost of providing for the administration and enforcement of standards in housing and the issue of HMO licences.

Scarborough Council's charges have not been reviewed since they were set in 2006. An increase is proposed from January 1. Mr Skelton added: "It is intended to bring the council's charges more in line with the average levied by other local authorities and more accurately reflect the cost of delivering the scheme,"

Licences for a property shared by five or more people will go up from 450 to 662, while the fee for an eight tenant property will go up from 562 to 748. For landlords with more than nine tenants sharing the cost will rise from 645 to 850 a year.

The council will still charge 45 an hour for enforcement action.