The London Borough of Bexley previously commissioned BRE to undertake a series of modelling exercises on their housing stock to provide an integrated housing stock condition database, making use of available local data sources:

• Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG)
• tenure and Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) data
• plus the EPC data which have been integrated into BRE’s standard Housing Stock Condition Database (HSCD)

For this additional analysis, the Council requested analysis of the current Selective Licensing schemes that were put in place in 2018 and are due to expire in August 2023. Furthermore, analysis of private rented stock focussing on the Selective Licensing criteria including property condition migration, Antisocial behaviour, and deprivation was conducted.

Such information will facilitate the decision-making process for targeting resources to improve the condition of housing and to assist in determining if there is evidence for further Selective Licensing of the private rented sector.

Current Scheme Analysis

Of the four areas that are currently designated under a Selective Licensing scheme the pre and post-mitigation work showed that there were improvements made in that the levels of category 1 hazards did reduce for each tenure, however, the changes were not significant enough to alter the overall percentages of category 1 hazards within each tenure when comparing the ‘before’ picture to the ‘after’ picture.

When looking at the corresponding maps, all four designated area did show small improvements in certain LSOAs, especially in parts of Manor Road and Erith.

In relation to the noise nuisance data provided by the Council, the data shows that the levels of reported noise incidents increased during the summer months and decreased during the winter periods, which is typical of this type of Antisocial behaviour incident and does not show any indication that the number of reported noise disturbances has been decreasing since the introduction of the Selective Licensing schemes.

Private rented sector analysis including Selective Licensing

Overall, the percentage of dwellings in the private rented sector across Bexley is 22% which is higher than the national average of 19%. Of the 17 wards in Bexley, 9 have a percentage of private rented sector dwellings greater than the national average, in particular Belvedere (32%).

Of the two wards within Bexley with over 30% private rented stock, Belvedere has the highest level of category 1 hazards (8%), fall hazard (5%) and disrepair (5%), whilst both Belvedere and Erith have the same level of excess cold (2%). Compared to the average of Bexley’s overall private rented stock for each property indicator, Belvedere has identical levels of each whereas Erith has slightly lower levels of all four indicators than the average for Bexley.

Of the three wards in Bexley with 25 to 30% private rented stock, Sidcup ward has the highest level of category 1 hazards (8%), excess cold (4%) and disrepair (5%), whereas Slade Green & Northend has the highest levels of falls hazard (5%). Compared to the average of Bexley’s overall private rented stock for each property indicator, Sidcup has the same levels of category 1 hazards and disrepair, but higher levels of excess cold and lower levels of falls hazard. Meanwhile, Thamesmead East and Slade Green & Northend have lower levels of all four indicators compared to Bexley’s average.

Of the four wards in Bexley with 19 to 24% private rented stock, Longlands has the highest levels of hazards (8%) and excess cold (3%), and Crook Log has the highest levels of falls hazard (5%) and disrepair (6%).

Compared to the average of Bexley’s overall private rented stock for each property indicator, all four wards have the average level of category 1 hazards, for excess cold Crayford, Bexleyheath and Crook Log have the same level as average but Longlands is slightly higher, for falls hazard Crayford, Bexleyheath and Crook Log have the same level as average but Longlands is slightly lower and for disrepair Crook Log, Bexleyheath and Longlands have slightly above average levels of disrepair, whereas Crayford has the same level as the average.

Levels of deprivation are greatest in Slade Green & Northend ward where 52% of private rented dwellings are located in the 20% most deprived LSOAs in England, which is far higher than the average figure for Bexley’s private rented stock as a whole (6%).

Antisocial behaviour (ASB) incidents were highest for Crayford and Belvedere wards in 2020 (696, 670), but in 2021 it was Bexleyheath with 538 and Thamesmead East that had the highest levels of ASB (538, 521).

The data and maps show that there are specific areas within the wards identified which have higher levels of private rented stock and deprivation and disrepair which could be considered for targeted interventions, such as Longlands, Bexleyheath and St Mary’s and St James. These interventions might include targeting landlords of dwellings not meeting minimum energy efficiency standards and further Selective Licensing schemes.