This was another long meeting.  I’m afraid I didn’t stay for all of it – I left around 8pm when a Labour Councillor started shouting at a Green Councillor.  We were in the final bit of the meeting where motions are debated and this never achieves anything as the council has a majority and the outcome of motions is very predictable.  You can see a recording of the whole meeting at http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decCD/FullCouncilMeetingVideo10October2011.htm and the Agenda and other details are also available.

I was pleased to see Mrs Judy Crompton at the meeting – she is a good local landlord who treats her tenants (one of whom she had with her) extremely well.  She gave a good speech about the HMO licensing scheme and I think it explained very well how although the scheme is a good thing in principle, it is being applied to the wrong landlords.  As she said, “Please avoid the temptation to consider being a landlord as a life choice of the more unsavoury end of the spectrum” and I think really importantly,

” It certainly does seem from the wording of motion 3 that the council sees landlords as wild beasts who must be captured, tamed and kept chained and under control. I, personally, and as a representative of my colleagues, find this unhelpful and, as a council tax payer who personally pays council tax on 6 properties, I also feel that this attitude and the “tarring of all with the same brush” an unhelpful attitude which wastes my money. I expect a more measured tone from my paid representatives.”.

I entirely agree with Judy on this.  HMO licensing is being applied far too bluntly.  We have officers pursuing landlords to do work to properties that is not safety-related and that their tenants don’t want while at the same time there are other properties that are damp, cockroach-infested and vastly overcrowded.    It staggers me to see that they are not getting prioritised over the many excellent properties that are now being ruined in appearance (being made to look more like hostels) by the ridiculous demands being made by the huge HMO team.  I consider it a public disgrace.