Birmingham Selly oak - Fern Avenue Residents

In 2001, Birmingham City Council adopted the Selly Oak Local Plan, which included Policy 11.22 'Area of Restraint (Student Accommodation)'. The Bournbrook Community Safety Project is located in Selly Oak, and has just commissioned from Birmingham Co-operative Housing Services a report on Additional HMO Licensing in Selly Oak. The conclusion of the report is as follows -

It is therefore recommended that the Bournbrook Community Safety Project should put forward a proposal to Birmingham City Council for an Additional Licensing Scheme for Selly Oak. The scheme would apply to all HMOs in the area based on similar licensing conditions to of the current Mandatory Licensing Scheme for Birmingham.

This is of interest to anyone concerned about HMOs, as is the National HMO Lobby. So I attach the report, with thanks to Barry Toon of the BCSP, in the hope that other towns will find it useful. It provides a valuable model for proposing Additional HMO Licensing.

Executive Summary

This report sets out for the case the introduction of a statutory licensing scheme for all privately rented ‘Houses in Multiple Occupation’ in Selly Oak.
The report has been commissioned by the Bournbrook Community Safety Project, a locally based agency that has tackled a wide range of community and housing issues in the Selly Oak area over the last eight years.
Many of these issues are associated with the rapidly changing nature of Selly Oak. Traditionally Selly Oak was a residential area with a mixture of owner occupied and rented family accommodation living in mainly Victorian terraced housing. Over the last fifteen years around a third of the housing in the area has been converted into flats for students and for other migrant groups.
These changes have led to the displacement of families from the area and to a range of physical and social problems, including; a deterioration in housing and environmental conditions across the area; problems with accumulations of rubbish and with rat infestation; unsightly lettings signs outside many properties and serious parking congestion; growing instances of anti social behaviour, vandalism and street violence; and high crime rates.
Dealing with these problems has required concerted action and considerable investment by the local community, by the Police and by the Council. However there is a limit to what can be achieved through a mixture of voluntary action and essentially reactive statutory intervention. There is now a strong case for a strategic and long term approach to planning the future of the area.
The Housing Act 2004 creates a new statutory framework for addressing poor housing conditions and for regulating the management of the private rented sector and HMO’s. Specifically it provides for the Mandatory Licensing of larger HMO’s. This mandatory scheme although welcome will probably only cover 1 in 3 HMO’s in Selly Oak.
The Act also contains powers for establishing Additional Licensing schemes that can apply to specified ‘high pressure’ areas. The Local authority has to apply to DCLG to introduce such a scheme.
There is a strong and compelling case for more effective intervention to regulate and manage the whole of the private rented sector in Selly Oak as part of a wider housing and community strategy.