Application for Licence to become an Accreditation Provider of the

West of England Rental Standard

Background

The West of England Rental Standard (WoE Rental Standard) has been developed following a review of the WoE Accreditation scheme and the decision to adopt a common scheme across the four authorities - Bristol City, North Somerset, Bath and NE Somerset and South Gloucestershire councils.

The WoE Rental Standard is a voluntary set of minimum standards that Landlords, Letting or Residential Managing Agents in the private rented sector, should meet. The aim is that the WoE Rental Standard becomes the single accreditation badge for compliant landlords and agents across the West of England.

Accrediting Organisations can apply for a licence to become an Accreditation Provider of the WoE Rental Standard and accredit their members as meeting the WoE Rental Standard. This will enable Accredited Providers and Accredited Members to use the WoE Rental Standard Badge (logo) on their marketing, publicity and communications materials; therefore demonstrating that they meet the WoE Rental Standard.

To apply for this licence, organisations must complete the application from below and submit this to the WoE Rental Standard administrator at Bristol City Council, Private Housing Service (100TS), P.O. Box 3176, Bristol BS3 9FS or by email to

All successful applications must enter into the Accreditation Provider Agreement, before they begin to accredit their members under The WoE Rental Standard. After a successful applicants’ application has been processed, the Accreditation Provider Agreement will be provided to them for implementation along with the schemes logo documents and a supply of scheme window stickers to use to market the scheme.

APPLICATION FOR LICENCE

Only Accrediting Organisations can apply for a licence to become an Accreditation Provider of the WoE Rental Standard.

If you provide false or misleading information in your application for a licence, this may result in your application being refused or any licence you have previously been issued being revoked.

Section 1

Please provide contact details for an appropriate person in your organisation, whom the WoE Rental Standard administrator may contact with regards to your application.

Name:………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Role:…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Organisation: ……………………………………………………………………......

Contact number:………………………………………………………………………………………………

Email address:…………………………………………………………………………………………………

To apply for a licence to become an Accreditation Provider of the WoE Rental Standard to landlords, please provide a written statement in the box below explaining how your accreditation scheme for Landlords complies with all of the provisions of the WoE Rental Standard.

To apply for a licence to become an Accreditation Provider of the WoE Rental Standard to Managing / Letting Agents, please provide a written statement in the box below explaining how your accreditation scheme for Managing Agents complies with all of the provisions of the WoE Rental Standard.

Please also include a detailed description of how your organisation conducts accreditation training or how you ascertain that members of your organisation have undertaken sufficient training prior to accreditation.

If there is insufficient room in the box provided, please continue on a separate document and ensure that the separate document be included in your application, otherwise it cannot be taken into account in the assessment of your application.

Please continue to Section 2.

Section 2.

To support your application, you must provide copies of the following documents (digital copies are acceptable):

  • The Code of Practice your members must sign in order to become accredited;
  • The application form(s) your members must complete to be considered for accreditation;
  • The criteria or decision-making process, under which you determine that a member meets the WoE Rental Standard and therefore becomes an Accredited Member;
  • Documents specifying the training you require your members to undertake in order to become accredited; what this training involves and covers (for example, course outline / syllabus); who provides it and how frequently it is required of members in order to maintain their accreditation;
  • Your accreditation schemes complaints procedure (“Complaints Procedure”);
  • Your monitoring procedures, which set out how your organisation will monitor those of its members, whom it has accredited under the WoE Rental Standard, to ensure that they continue to meet the requirements of WoE Rental Standard (“Monitoring Procedures”).
  • Your procedure for disciplining and stripping of accreditation status those of your members who fail to meet the requirements of your scheme (“Disciplining and Removal Procedures”)

Please note: In addition to the above documentation, please submit any additional documentation that you feel supports your application and substantiates the description of your scheme’s practices, which you have detailed in your statement in response to Section 1 of this application. If your scheme does not have one or more of the pieces of documentation mentioned above, but you feel that your scheme should qualify, please make reference to this in your statement in section 1.

Please continue to section 3.

Section 3

As part of this application for a licence to become an Accreditation Provider of the WoE Rental Standard, you must provide the following confirmation:

I, ………………………………………………………………., the undersigned, hereby confirm that

(insert name of duly authorised signatory)

…..………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………..

(insert company name and number, if applicable)

isable to comply with obligations set out in this Accreditation Provider Agreement

………………………………………………………………………Date:…………./…………/…………..

If you do not provide this confirmation, your application will not be considered.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Applications for WoE Rental Standard licence will be successful if:

- The applicant provides the information and documentation required in sections 1 and 2 of the Application Form, and that information and documentation demonstrates that the relevant accreditation scheme(s) complies with the WoE Rental Standard (as applicable);

- the Complaints Procedure, the Monitoring Procedures, Disciplining and Removal Procedures required to be submitted under Section 2 of this application are considered to be appropriate for the purposes of ensuring that the standards of the WoE Rental Standard are met and maintained; and

- the applicant has provided the signed confirmation required in Section 3 of this Application Form.

Applications for a licence may be successful where the applicant’s accreditation scheme slightly differs from the provisions and requirements of the WoE Rental Standard. This is only likely to be in circumstances where, considered as whole, the accreditation scheme meets or exceeds the provisions and objectives of the WoE Rental Standard.

DECISION

Your application for a licence will be considered by the WoE Rental Standardadministrator. Based on the assessment criteria above, the WoE Rental Standardadministrator will make a recommendation to the WoE Rental Standard Board who will decide, based on that recommendation and the assessment criteria, whether your application is successful or unsuccessful.

The Board’s decision will be communicated to you in writing and may be published on the WOE Private Landlord website.

If your application is successful, your organisation will be asked to sign the Accreditation Provider Agreement along with the four West of England local authorities.

APPEAL

If WoE Rental Standardapplication is unsuccessful, you can appeal against the decision by writing to the WoE Rental Standardscheme administrator explaining why you consider that your application should have been successful, and why the decision to refuse the application is wrong.

Your appeal will not be considered by the WoE Rental Standardadministrator who refused your original application, but will be considered by a different officer, who will reconsider your original application and the reasons for your appeal before deciding based on the assessment criteria above, whether or not your appeal (and therefore application) be successful or unsuccessful.

The appeal decision will be communicated to you in writing.