Brent Council to reintroduce HMO licences to keep tenants safe
A council in north London has said it needs to bring back tougher rules to deal with "rogue landlords" of houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs).Brent Council says there is currently a "significant number" of such homes in the borough that are "substandard and potentially dangerous" and which pose a risk to residents.The council plans to restart a licensing scheme which saw 2,500 HMOs licensed and helped the council "improve standards and management practices". It is now consulting on the plans and hopes to bring them in this autumn.
Brent council says HMO licensing makes sure that houses are 'safe, well-managed, and provide basic facilities for tenants', and says it gives powers to officers to inspect licensed properties to ensure they meet the required standards.The consultation states: "It is important that the council uses all available tools to improve conditions for tenants in this sector. Licensing is one of the tools and plays a key role in this effort."
A mandatory licence is already needed for HMOs with five or more people from two or more households.The additional rules would cover typically smaller HMOs with three or more people from two or more different households.Licensing imposes specific obligations on the landlord to demonstrate that their property is safe while enabling the council to enforce rules.The licence would cost landlords around £1,040 for the application, processing and inspection of up to five habitable rooms – and a further £25 per additional room.
Opinions wanted
Councillor Fleur Donnelly-Jackson, said: "Over the past 20 years, the number of privately rented homes in Brent has grown, and now makes up almost half of all homes in the borough. "We want to make sure these homes are safe and good quality for tenants."She added: "While we have seen significant improvements, we believe that another additional HMO licensing scheme is necessary to maintain and improve the management of HMOs in Brent. "We want to encourage residents to give their opinions on these new proposals for HMOs."
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The Herald Scotland
5 days ago
- The Herald Scotland
Highlands and Moray tipped for floating windfarm jobs boom
He is confident that these will help Cerulean play a pioneering role in the development of an industry that could attract huge inward investment to Scotland and create thousands of valuable jobs. Floating wind seemed a natural move for Mr Jackson following long stints developing oil and gas structures offshore around world. After years in which offshore renewables investment focused on turbines fixed to the seabed, he thinks it makes obvious sense to shift to floating developments. These will allow developers to deploy huge turbines in areas where the winds blow more strongly and dependably than in the shallow water areas suitable for fixed developments. The bigger the turbine and the further offshore it floats, the stronger the winds it can harness. 'There's significantly more wind and higher speeds that blow for longer further offshore,' says Mr Jackson who highlights related environmental benefits of the Aspen development planned by Cerulean. 'The closest we are is 100 miles off the coast of Peterhead,' notes Mr Jackson of Aspen. 'That's well out of the way of most people's eyesight and the environmental impacts are significantly less than brownfield oil and gas.' Aspen is expected to feature more than 50 turbines when the multi-phase development process is complete. Cerulean hopes the windfarm will be the first of three it will develop off Scotland in the next few years. Mr Jackson's experience of working on a range of North Sea oil and gas projects reinforces his conviction that Scotland is ideally placed to lead the way in floating wind. 'Scotland has something quite unique: It has phenomenal wind,' he enthuses. 'Where we are far offshore North East Scotland is more than double what it would be in Southern England.' READ MORE: Scottish hydropower boom hopes fade as bumper projects under threat SNP Government oil hypocrisy shocking amid Scottish jobs cull North Sea drilling curb plans look mad following Trump trade threats Around 90% of the waters off Scotland are deep, which means they should lend themselves well to hosting floating structures. Mr Jackson also subscribes to the view that the capacities offered by Scotland's oil and gas supply chain provide it with huge advantages. 'Scotland has a fantastic heritage in oil and gas. It effectively became a centre of excellence for the whole world in subsea technology,' he says. 'If Scotland didn't have an oil and gas industry it would have the challenge of how do we build these structures but it has the DNA to do it.' In Mr Jackson's view there is real potential to develop a major new industry in Scotland on the back of the deployment of floating windfarms. Over the last five years it has become clear that a range of firms are interested in entering the Scottish market. Dan Jackson, left, with Cerulean Winds co-founder Mark Dixon (Image: Paul Campbell) Cerulean was awarded leases under the INTOG (Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas) round completed by Crown Estate Scotland in 2023. The round was intended to encourage the development of renewable energy sources that could be used to power oil and gas activity offshore to help secure a big reduction in emissions related to production operations by 2030. Output from INTOG developments will also be supplied to the national grid. Cerulean moved quickly to strike agreements with key contractors that it reckons have the experience and capacity to be able to help it get the windfarms operational by the 2030 deadline. These include offshore operations and maintenance specialist Bilfinger. 'The engineering's largely done for us,' notes Mr Jackson. 'We want to start cutting steel in 2027 and we want to have units in the water in 28/29.' A key decision that Cerulean made was to select the Port of Ardersier on the Cromarty Firth to be the onshore support base for operations. 'Ardersier is phenomenal,' says Mr Jackson. 'It's a blank canvas of a scale to be the Scottish floating wind hub. 'You need somewhere to assemble these structures, integrate the turbines and probably most importantly to service them. You need a very large amount of water with a deepwater port and that's what the Port of Ardersier offers.' 'There are alternatives but you don't have the same blank canvas.' Port of Ardersier is controlled by Haventus, which secured £300 million backing from US private equity business Quantum Capital for a plan to turn the facility into a major low carbon energy industry base. The Scottish and UK Governments have agreed to provide £100m credit. Mr Jackson thinks the revamped Ardersier will be a major asset that could help to ensure the Scottish supply chain capitalises on the development of floating wind after largely missing out on the benefits of fixed windfarm projects. The port may help remove obstacles that are holding up some developments. At the recent All-Energy conference industry leaders noted that the timelines for projects led by firms that were awarded acreage in the landmark ScotWind leasing round in 2022 appeared to have shifted 'to the right'. READ MORE: Just transition furore reignited as SNP Government flounders Israeli-owned firm takes control of UK's biggest gas field North Sea giant eyes major expansion move while oil and gas job losses mount Mr Jackson notes: 'The fixed wind industry went straight to an international solution and that meant Scottish yards and ports could not compete. 'But if you set up Port of Ardersier for assembly, integration and development of floating wind then all the bow wind of projects that are in ScotWind have basically a Scottish solution that's cost competitive with an international solution.' Mr Jackson expects Cerulean alone to bring in well over £1 billion inward investment on new assembly and port facilities. 'A fixed wind project has negligible UK content during its construction, a bit of storage is probably all … We're aiming for well over 50% UK content, most of which is in Scotland, and we've purposely partnered with companies that want to develop a UK Scottish solution.' One benefit associated with floating windfarms could have welcome implications for Scotland. 'If you want to service or have an issue with a turbine at the moment you have to hire the world's most expensive crane vessels and use international contractors with international supply chain services… what we will do is we will simply disconnect, tow it to quayside at the Port of Ardersier and service there with a dedicated facility with highly skilled staff supported by the UK supply chain.' The servicing jobs concerned should be well paid and likely to be created in huge numbers. 'It's a new industry, there's thousands of these jobs, this is a big scale and it's all set for North East Scotland and around the Inverness area.' Noting that the UK and Scottish Governments recognise the scale of the potential opportunity, Mr Jackson praises both for being very supportive. Industry leaders have, however, said the UK Government needs to act urgently to allow windfarms to get connected to the national grid more rapidly. The Scottish Government must speed up the planning process. The success of Cerulean's plans could depend heavily on the outcome of the applications it expects to make for revenue support for projects under the Contracts For Difference programme run by the UK Government. Another Scottish floating windfarm project on INTOG acreage, Green Volt, won support under the last CFD round. Green Volt is being developed by Flotation Energy with a private equity-backed Norwegian firm. Flotation managing director Barry MacLeod thinks Green Volt could help pave the way to a surge in developments off Scotland. If he and Cerulean's Mr Jackon are correct we could see a fair number of Shard-scale turbines floating off Scotland within a few years.
Wales Online
6 days ago
- Wales Online
Colin Jackson leads Welsh athletes urging government to back London 2029 World Championships bid
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South Wales Guardian
21-05-2025
- South Wales Guardian
UK house price growth accelerated as buyers rushed to beat stamp duty deadline
This took the average UK house price in March to £271,000, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. The ending of a stamp duty holiday from April onwards sparked a stampede of home-buyers in the run-up. Stamp duty applies in England and Northern Ireland. The figures were released as statistics showed UK inflation surged to its highest level for more than a year last month. Households have been clobbered by a raft of 'awful April' bill increases. Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation reached 3.5% in April, up from 2.6% in March and the highest level since January 2024. This was higher than some economists had been predicting, with a rise of 3.3% having been expected. Andrew Montlake, chief executive at Coreco mortgage brokers, said: 'With inflation edging up sharply this morning, and mortgage rates likely to follow as expectations of further base rate cuts reduce, this could see average values start to retreat again. If prices do start to ease, they will only go so far as there is a fundamental lack of supply.' Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 3.5% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 2.6% in March 2025. Read the full article ➡️ — Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) May 21, 2025 Jonathan Handford, managing director at estate agent group Fine & Country, said: 'In the months ahead, inflation and still-elevated borrowing costs are likely to weigh on demand, particularly as affordability remains stretched across much of the country. 'That said, a period of softer or stabilising house prices may offer a welcome opportunity for first-time buyers who have been priced out in some areas of the country.' Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the 'rush to seal a deal' before the end of the stamp duty holiday provided some extra impetus for the housing market. She added: 'This may well slow again in the next set of figures, which is the usual pattern in the aftermath of a stamp duty holiday. However, we're unlikely to see anything too dramatic. 'This period has been marked by robust price growth rather than stellar leaps, so the hangover from the property party is likely to be less painful. 'Lower mortgage rates should also help support prices. However, with buyer numbers likely to have dropped off fairly sharply, there's going to be some room for negotiation.' Nick Leeming, chairman of estate agent Jackson-Stops, said: 'Encouragingly, across the Jackson-Stops network we are seeing robust activity levels, with demand outpacing supply in popular markets. In April alone, an average of five potential buyers were competing for every new listing, underscoring borrowers' continued commitment.' Jeremy Leaf, a north London estate agent, said some potential buyers and sellers are 'sitting on their hands', adding: 'The recent cut in mortgage rates has restored some confidence but April's sharp rise in inflation will not help.' Average house prices increased to £296,000 (6.7% annual growth) in England, £208,000 (3.6%) in Wales, and £186,000 (4.6%) in Scotland, in the 12 months to March, according to the ONS. The average house price in Northern Ireland was £185,000 in the first quarter of 2025 – a 9.5% annual increase. Iain McKenzie, chief executive of the Guild of Property Professionals, said: 'We cannot ignore the subdued economic backdrop and ongoing geopolitical uncertainties which will likely ensure a more measured pace of growth for the remainder of the year.' Richard Harrison, head of mortgages at Atom bank, said: 'Lenders have been incredibly active in reducing rates.' The ONS also said average UK monthly private rents increased by 7.4%, to £1,335, in the year to April. The annual growth rate eased from 7.7% in March. Average rents increased to £1,390 per month (7.5% annual growth) in England, £795 (8.7%) in Wales, and £999 (5.1%) in Scotland, in April. In Northern Ireland, average rents increased to £843 (7.8% annual growth) in the 12 months to February, the report said. Within England, annual inflation in private rents was highest in the North East region (9.4%) and lowest in Yorkshire and the Humber (4.0%), in April. Nathan Emerson, chief executive of property professionals' body Propertymark, said: 'Overwhelming demand within the rental sector continues to influence price increases for those who rent. We continue to witness, on average, around 10 applicants for every property available to rent and this is a situation that has broadly remained stagnated across the last five years. 'It is imperative that rental supply rises to meet the challenges of demand.'
