Liverpool landlords could receive 50% discounts on the city’s licensing scheme fees after the council reached an agreement with industry regulators.

The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) and the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) which represent agents and landlords have joined forces with Liverpool City Council to comply with the conditions in the local authority’s mandatory licensing initiative.

The legislation, which came into effect last April, requires all landlords in Liverpool to have a five-year licence for each of their rented properties and standard fees of £400 are charged for the first home with £350 for each subsequent property they own.

Under the new agreement – the first of its type in the country – those represented by ARLA, NALS or RLA will instead pay £200 to register each property to the scheme, which aims to improve standards in the city’s private rented sector.

Councillor Frank Hont, Liverpool City Council’s cabinet member for housing, says: “I am delighted that ARLA, NALS and the RLA have all come on board. It is a win-win for everyone, because their members benefit from a reduced fee and we are able to target our resources at those landlords who we know aren’t meeting the standards.”

David Cox, managing director of ARLA, adds: “We are glad Liverpool City Council has seen the importance of distinguishing between the professional market and those who the scheme is designed to remove from Liverpool’s rental market.

ARLA welcomes this initiative and hopefully by giving landlords who use our members a 50% discount on licensing fees, it will encourage more landlords to use licensed letting agents. This in turn will further benefit the consumer, by providing them with a wider choice of reputable letting agents who will be bound by the ARLA code of conduct.”

Almost 8,500 landlords responsible for around 39,500 properties are said to have started the application process for the scheme so far.

The city council has also started to issue the first batch of licences which will be followed by compliance checks to ensure licence conditions are being met and standards maintained.

Both current and prospective tenants can access a database via the council’s website to see if their landlord has started the application process, and can notify the local authority if not.

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