A property licensing scheme in Peterborough is raising standards in the city’s private rented sector through a proactive inspection programme designed to reach every licensed property and identify and resolve serious issues.
More than 7,000 inspections of licensed properties have now been completed under Peterborough City Council’s Selective Licensing scheme – with potentially enforceable hazards identified in more than 66 per cent of homes.
Of the properties inspected, 892 have been referred to the council’s Housing Standards team for direct enforcement action due to poor property conditions. Since the start of the scheme, the council has served over 200 formal enforcement notices to tackle major issues of disrepair. The council has also secured four prosecutions where landlords have failed to take any action to resolve the issues identified, as well as serving 110 Civil Penalties for offences related to licensing.
The scheme, which was introduced in March 2024, and will remain in force until March 2029, requires landlords in designated areas of the city to hold a licence for each property they rent out to ensure they meet agreed safety standards. As part of the licence conditions, every property will be inspected twice during the five-year licensing period.
As the first inspection programme nears completion, over 43,000 hazards and compliance issues have been uncovered, of which approximately 13,000 presented a serious risk to tenants’ health or safety. These included damp and mould, fire safety risks, missing window restrictors and electrical concerns.
Every licensed property covered by the scheme has now either been inspected, undertaken a compliance audit, or is due to be inspected shortly by Home Safe, the Council’s delivery partner. This proactive approach identifies issues directly rather than relying solely on complaints from tenants, who may be unaware of the risks, reluctant to complain or may have accepted poor conditions as normal.
Identifying an issue is only the first step to improving rental housing under the scheme. Landlords then receive clear instructions setting out the work required and appropriate timescales for completing it, followed by checks to confirm that the necessary improvements had been made. This approach has led to tangible improvements, helping thousands of tenants and families live in safer homes.
At one property, inspectors uncovered seven serious hazards, including extensive damp and mould in the kitchen, dining room, bathroom and two bedrooms, a missing window restrictor and smoke detectors with missing or dead batteries on both floors.
Following the inspection, Home Safe notified the landlord of the issues found and set clear timescales for the necessary work to be completed. The required improvements were made within those timescales. Without the proactive inspection, these hazards may have remained unreported, leaving the four tenants exposed to avoidable health, fire and safety risks.
Councillor Christian Hogg, Cabinet Member for Regulatory Services and Enforcement, said: “I’m delighted that Selective Licensing is making a positive difference in our communities. The overwhelming majority of landlords engaged positively with the inspection process and completed the required work. As a result, thousands of hazards have been addressed, and thousands of tenants and families are now living in safer rented homes.
“Only a small proportion of cases required referral to the council by Home Safe because a landlord failed to cooperate or a serious risk posing imminent danger was identified. This demonstrates that our proactive approach to inspections and follow-ups can secure improvements without formal enforcement action in most cases.
“The property-level evidence gathered through these inspections has also given the council a much clearer understanding of conditions in the private rented sector, enabling us to identify recurring problems and focus resources where tenants face the greatest risk.”
Mike Brook, Scheme Manager at Home Safe, said: “The scale of serious hazards uncovered in this first programme reinforces just how important proactive inspections are in identifying and addressing substandard unsafe housing. A rental property may appear compliant on paper, but when we step through the front door, we have found so many cases where tenants are living with conditions that pose a serious risk to their health and safety.
"Peterborough City Council’s commitment to ensuring every licensed property is inspected is making a real difference by identifying hazards wherever they exist and requiring landlords to address them or face enforcement.”
For more information about the Selective Licensing scheme and how to apply, visit our Selective Licensing Scheme page.
Second programme of inspections underway
As the first round of inspections comes to an end, every property will now be revisited as the second inspection programme gets underway. Properties will undergo a second inspection to ensure previous improvements have been maintained, identify any new or recurring hazards, and confirm continued compliance with property standards and licence conditions.
The council continues to remind landlords in designated Selective Licensing areas who have not yet applied that they are required to do so without delay. Landlords operating unlicensed properties may face a financial penalty notice of up to £40,000, an unlimited court fine, and may be ordered to repay up to 24 months’ rent to tenants.