§ Jon TrickettTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the number of private landlords in(a) Hemsworth, (b) Yorkshire and (c) England. [109918]
§ Mr. McNultyThe information requested is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Jon TrickettTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate his Department has made of the likely uptake by local authorities of the power to selectively license private landlords. [109986]
§ Mr. McNultyThe draft Housing Bill sets out a discretionary selective licensing power for local authorities, and the extent of take-up would therefore depend on decisions by individual local authorities in due course. Responses to the 2001 consultation on selective licensing indicated that 50 local authorities in England were in favour. For the purposes of the Regulatory Impact Assessment published with the draft Bill, we made the assumption that selective licensing would be taken up by a majority of local authorities in areas of low housing demand, and that 75 per cent. of low demand dwellings would be likely to be required to obtain a licence.