The government will give councils £13m to implement licensing for houses in multiple occupation.
Housing minister Keith Hill gave this figure to an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister select committee on Tuesday.

The costing is the government's first admission of the price of mandatory licensing of HMOs, which is to be made law in the upcoming Housing Bill.

Hill also said councils will be able to charge landlords £110 per unit for a licence. The government wants the scheme ultimately to be self-financing.

Hill said: "Before the scheme becomes self-financing we appreciate that councils will need help with start-up costs. Our current estimate is that this will cost £13m."

David Greening, project officer for the Local Government Association, said he was pleased the money had been announced but added: "We worked £110 per licence as the minimum councils would need to recover costs, so this doesn't allow any leeway."