Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the landlord licensing scheme because the Council has agreed to extend the complainant’s licence so it is valid for five years.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains that the Council asked him to pay for a new landlord licence even though his existing licence was not due to expire until 2022.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe the Council has already provided a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and got some information from the Council. This includes a letter the Council sent to Mr X explaining it had decided to extend his licence until January 2022. I considered comments Mr X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

4. In January 2017 Mr X applied for a landlord licence. He lives in an area where it is compulsory to have a licence. Mr X paid £506 for the licence and thought it would be valid until 2022.
5. The licensing scheme ended in August 2019. The Council introduced a new licensing scheme for five years from September. The Council asked Mr X to apply for a new licence and pay £685. Mr X paid but also complained. He said it was unfair because he still had three years left on his current licence. The Council said it was going to review the scheme and put his case on hold until that review had been completed.
6. The Council completed the review in late 2019. It decided it would extend Mr X’s licence until January 2022. It said it would refund the fee Mr X had paid in September.
7. Mr X says the licence should be extended until April 2022 because the Council issued the licence in April 2017.
8. The Council revised the decision again and said it would extend the licence from 16 February 2017 so that it expires on 15 February 2022. This is because it granted a draft licence from 16 February 2017. The Council will review the information it provides to landlords about when a licence becomes live.

Assessment

9. I will not start an investigation because the Council has extended Mr X’s licence until February 2022. This is the five years from when the Council issued the licence in February 2017 and, during this time, Mr X was legally allowed to rent out his property.
10. Mr X says the licence should be extended until April 2022. However, based on the licence fee paid by Mr X over a period of five years, this represents a theoretical loss of less than £20 which I will not pursue due to a lack of injustice.

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Final decision

11. I will not start an investigation because the Council has extended Mr X’s licence.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman