Decision details

AGREED: that the revised Fees Policy (attached at Appendix 1 to the report) be approved in relation to:

a)    Landlord Registration

b)    Landlord Licensing

c)    Agent licensing

d)    Course Approval

e)    Training Provider Authorisation

f)     Course delivery

The effective date of implementation will be either the 1^st April 2018 or the date of system re-configuration, whichever is later.

The Council is required to have a Fee policy in place to meet its responsibilities as the designated Single Licensing Authority for Wales, under

• Part 1 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014,
• The Regulation of Private Rented Housing (Information, Periods and Fees for Registration and Licensing) ( Wales) Regulations  2015 and
• The Regulation of Private Rented Housing (Training Requirements) (Wales) Regulations 2015.

A recent ruling of the Hemming v Westminster case made it clear that local authorities could set their fees at a level that would enable them to recover the costs of managing and enforcing the licensing regime, including the costs incurred in proceedings taken against unlicensed operators.  However, the European Court of Justice Judgement ruling clarified that Licensing Authorities should structure their fees in a manner that would collect fees at the appropriate time to ensure that there is no financial disadvantage to the applicant. This now requires Cardiff Council to amend the fee policy to provide customers with the opportunity to pay their licence fees in two parts.