
Privately rented property licenses will 'improve living standards'
The council said it carried out a feasibility study which included data about demographics and the condition of rental accommodation in the borough.Officers said the initial scheme led to considerable improvements and helped the landlords understand their responsibilities and "what good property management looks like".If introduced, the scheme - which would include 60% of the borough's private-rented housing - would not be allowed to make a profit. Running costs would be covered by a proposed licence fee of £784 for landlords.
Paul Cunningham, chairman of the Eastern Landlords Association said: "I have brought this to the attention of the MP to say this is a pointless exercise."It is another way of Great Yarmouth Borough Council alienating landlords. Of all the local authorities I work with GYBC is the most difficult to deal with. They are anti-landlord and are the only council in Norfolk to look at selective licensing."The cost will be passed on to tenants and therefore the rents will be increase and more and more landlords will sell."There is already a lack of landlords across the area and country, and this will make housing asylum seekers look more attractive."
Mr Wells added: ''Generally, we have responsible landlords, but not everyone has a home that is safe, warm and good quality. This scheme would mean landlords must comply with a number of licence conditions."Bad housing has a detrimental impact on the lives of people and our residents deserve better where there are problems."
He added: ''We already have some powers related to housing, but this scheme will allow us to more effectively deal with a range of issues that impact people. "We will be better able to tackle health hazards and overcrowding – which is a real problem for some of our residents.''We would be able to systematically inspect properties to make sure things like gas and electric certification are up to date, rather than simply reacting to complaints as we currently do.''Where necessary, we could refuse to issue a licence and hold people accountable.''
Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
14 minutes ago
- The Independent
Angela Rayner battles Rachel Reeves over England tourist tax
Angela Rayner has reportedly called for the introduction of new powers to allow a tourist tax in England. The deputy prime minister is pushing for councils to have the ability to tax tourist hotel stays, despite opposition from Chancellor Rachel Reeves, reported The Telegraph. According to the outlet, Ms Rayner supported the inclusion of the power to charge tourist taxes in the Government's Devolution Bill published earlier this month. Ms Rayner is responsible for the Government's policy on councils as Secretary of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Treasury officials, including Ms Reeves, are understood to have opposed the measure due to concerns for the implications on hospitality businesses. Shadow Chancellor, Mel Stride, told The Telegraph: 'Labour can't help themselves – it's always tax, tax, tax. Whether it's Angela Rayner or Rachel Reeves, the instinct is always the same – more taxes.' She added that a levy on hotel stays would 'hit hospitality hard. Inbound tourism is the UK's third-largest service export, with the UK the seventh most visited country in the world in 2023. A record 43 million foreign visits to the UK are expected this year, in addition to domestic travel. The Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, is among local leaders asking to be allowed to charge more tax to visitors. Other mayors have echoed his sentiment. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said: 'A modest overnight accommodation levy, similar to other international cities, would boost our economy, deliver growth and help cement London's reputation as a global tourism and business destination.' In June, the mayors of the Liverpool City Region, Greater Manchester, London, the North East, the West Midlands and West Yorkshire signed a joint letter calling for visitor levies across England. A similar law is already in place in Scotland, passed in 2024, which allows councils to tax overnight accommodation if they wish to do so. A MHCLG spokesman said: 'There are currently no plans to introduce a tourism tax in England. Places can already choose to introduce a levy on overnight stays through the Accommodation Business Improvement District model. 'We are also already empowering local leaders by removing restrictions and allowing the existing Mayoral Council Tax Precept to be spent on areas that drive local growth, such as transport and adult skills.' Bath and Cambridge recently urged the government to allow them to introduce tourist taxes, becoming the latest in a string of English destinations seeking similar levies. In a letter sent to Ms Rayner, the leaders of Bath & North East Somerset Council and Cambridge City Council state that their 'destination' cities are under growing amounts of pressure when it comes to tourism. The councils are seeking a roundtable with the government to explore ways that they can support sustainable tourism in their cities, including the introduction of 'a modest visitor levy' with revenue that will benefit both residents and visitors.


BBC News
15 minutes ago
- BBC News
Dog rescued after living in Cotswold countryside for months
A lurcher dog that had been living as a stray for several months, has been caught by an animal rescue Ark Rescue worked with staff at O'Neill Racing to trap the female lurcher after it began to be regularly spotted in the grounds of the horse racing training yard in Temple Guiting, near is thought the dog had been hunting wild animals to survive but nearby farmers had become concerned that it may disturb sheep as they were preparing to lamb."They know how to survive. They live on rabbits, hares, everything - they don't want to come near people," said Jen Coles, founder of Noah's Ark Rescue. Staff at the race horse training centre, owned by successful trainer Jonjo O'Neill, had been feeding the dog to gain its trust and lure it closer into the dog was caught in a modified pen, with a laser beam to trigger the cage to close when an animal trap has recently been used to catch two other dogs, including another lurcher in Nailsworth that had survived alone for two weeks. 'The right home' Ms Coles said the dog will "get a new home," after being assessed and quarantined with a dog warden."They'll figure a bit more out about her and see how her temperament is and then its a case of finding the right home," she said."Running in the wild is all adrenaline fuelled - they're sort of in a panic mode but as soon as she was in the van she just slept."Lurchers are a greyhound cross so they're built for speed and can cover miles in minutes - they know how to hunt but she was obviously hungry that night because she took the food," Ms Coles added. Ms Cole said she had been trapping dogs alongside her partner for about 20 rescue service works with a drone company to locate lost and stray District Council said that anyone who encounters a lost or stray dog should check the area for an owner before reporting the dog to them. They also reminded dog owners to ensure their pet is microchipped, which is a legal requirement.


Telegraph
15 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Andrew Bailey warns Rachel Reeves against bonfire of red tape
Andrew Bailey has warned Rachel Reeves against slashing red tape to boost growth, cautioning that looser regulation will increase the risk of a crisis. The Bank of England Governor was asked by MPs on Tuesday if he agreed with the Chancellor's recent claim that regulation is 'the boot on the neck' of business. 'I do not use those terms,' he said. 'There are areas where we clearly should look at [revising regulations]. But we cannot compromise on basic financial stability, that would be my overall message.' His comments come a week after Ms Reeves announced a roll-back of regulation in the City in an effort to boost growth. The Chancellor used her Mansion House speech to urge financiers to ditch their 'excessive caution' and called for regulators covering industries beyond the City to loosen the rules to aid the economy. Mr Bailey hailed the opportunity to ditch EU red tape that was not designed to suit Britain's market, but said Ms Reeves should be wary of going too far. He told the Treasury select committee: 'When I hear people say, 'The financial crisis is now way in the past, we've got passed that, that's all solved, that's all out of the way, move on' ... For those of us who were veterans of sorting the problems of that out, I think we probably all feel in some ways ... erm ... no. 'Yes of course the world moves on ... [But] we had a very serious recession in this country after [the financial crisis]. So I do react to people who say that.' He added: 'Success in financial stability is when nothing happens. The fact we've had market volatility this year and we haven't had a financial stability problem and we're not worrying about banks failing ... is of course a success. 'It's not always easy to point to it and say, look, this is good news. But the UK banking system is very resilient.' Relaxing ring-fencing rules Mr Bailey specifically warned Ms Reeves against relaxing so-called ring-fencing rules, which divide retail banking from the racier world of investment banking. The Chancellor last week announced the ring-fencing regime would be 'reformed' as part of her overhaul. She has instructed the economic secretary to the Treasury to review the policies, 'looking at how changes can strike the right balance between growth and stability'. However, Mr Bailey said: 'The ring-fencing regime is an important part of the structure of the banking system. 'It makes resolution of banks, if they get into trouble, much easier, and it benefits, particularly in terms of UK customers and UK consumers, businesses and households. That is a helpful feature of it, I don't think it hinders banks fundamentally. 'It has established itself as part of the system and to me it would not be sensible to take it away at this point.' Risks are growing in financial markets, the Governor added, with heavy government borrowing in the UK and around the world driving up debt interest costs. High prices in stock markets also pose dangers, he said. He sounded the alarm over American tech stocks, singling out the soaring valuation of chip company Nvidia as a sign of the extent of market enthusiasm. 'In the US, it is a very strong tech-led growth story. The market capitalisation of Nvidia is now larger than the UK's GDP,' said the Governor. 'It is up 20pc this year. That is a pretty striking fact. It is 7pc of the overall market capitalisation in the US.' While Mr Bailey warned Ms Reeves not to go too far on City reforms, he said allowing banks to make more loans worth over four and a half times the income of homebuyers could help tens of thousands first time buyers onto the property ladder. He urged more banks to apply for permission to dish out larger mortgages. He said: 'It is very simple. We have changed the policy overnight. All you need to do is send us an email, ask for what we call a modification by waiver, it is yours.' The Governor said one bank has already obtained that permission, with another going through the process.