Sefton Council HMO

Challenge

Sefton Council has a statutory requirement to administer and process Mandatory (HMO) licenses and was also seeking to introduce Additional (HMO) and Selective licensing for the private rented sector. The council was keen to explore the market for a cloud-based solution to replace the legacy Flare software provided by Civica™.

Essential requirements for the new software included:

• Citizen online applications with data validation.
• Cloud based. No software installation required by citizens or council officers.
• Citizen dashboard. Portfolio landlords and letting agents must manage their applications and licenses online.
• Fit and proper persons process.
• Integration with the local Gazetteer, the national LLPG Database and Companies House.
• Evidence upload and validation.
• Online payments integration with Civica™ Icon with integrated pricing and discount matrix.
• Role based officer dashboards available via web browser.
• Officer application workflows and workload prioritisation tools.
• Full document production and representation management.
• License conditions and tasks with reminder and notifications.
• Bespoke management reports.

Solution

Through a competitive tendering process Rocktime was awarded a five-year contract to configure and install its verso™ Enterprise Edition software which would fulfil the council’s essential requirements and offer a significant reduction in the costs and administration of the council’s licenses schemes. The contract was awarded to Rocktime after it’s delivery team demonstrated their abilities to deliver not only on cost and quality, but also Rocktime’s deep technical knowledge of the private rented sector market.

Working closely with the team at Sefton council, Rocktime configured verso™ to allow online applications for the councils mandatory, selective and additional schemes. verso™ was also configured to automate the councils Temporary Exemption Notices, license variations and renewals. Being cloud-based, verso™ allows council officers to take full advantage of remote working. Requiring only a browser and an internet connection, council officers can now process and issue licences wherever they are working from. We configured verso™ to allow as much automation as possible, this in turn will allow officers to benefit from a reduced admin workload as factors such as evidence reminders, representations, stakeholder signoff and third-party validation are all handled by the software. Council officers no longer need to prepare and distribute license packs to stakeholders and licensees and this also is completely automated by verso™.