A landlord has warned tenants across Birmingham they could see their rent rise, as those leasing out properties are slapped with a £700 council demand.
One man, Paul Gates, has told Birmingham Live that he will need to pay for a licence to continue renting out his city centre flat - or face punishment.
Birmingham City Council has been given the green light by ministers to set up a "selective licensing" scheme and will cover a number of areas. But Paul is furious after learning "by accident" he will soon need to fork out close to a grand.
Local authority bosses said the licence covered a five-year period amounting to just £12.58 per calendar month. They also insisted they wouldn't make any money from it.
Paul said he believed the charge - likely to be faced by scores of landlords - would be passed straight onto tenants during a cost-of-living crisis. He said the entire five-year payment had to be handed over upfront and demanded to know what the funds would be spent on.
The 60-year-old shot down the idea that all landlords are rich. The former business owner said he invested in property after his father passed away and described it as his "retirement fund".
Paul said: "I'm not a multi-millionaire. There's only one place that £750 can come from. How can they justify it?"
The dad-of-two said he understood renting property came at a cost. He said gas certificates and service charges were "part and parcel" of being a landlord but claimed the new licence went too far.
He went on: "If it was £75 or £100, I would have taken it on the chin. I don't know how many private landlords there are in Birmingham, but times that by £750 and that's a lot of money in Birmingham City Council's coffers."
Paul - who has seven properties housing around 30 people in total, but just one in Birmingham - said he was facing rising costs on a number of fronts. He explained skyrocketing mortgages on buy-to-let properties were forcing him to sell two of his homes in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Asked for his message to Birmingham City Council, he said: "Think long and hard before you do this and also justify it. Where is the money going? Or is it just a way of raising funds?
"Nobody has consulted myself or my tenants. I would love to know how this money is going to be spent and how it will directly improve the lives of my tenants."
Birmingham City Council said the scheme was the result of two years of talks between local authority chiefs, landlords, tenants and the Government. They said wards within the scheme had been chosen due to high levels of crime, deprivation and anti-social behaviour.
A spokesperson said: "After extensive consultation, Birmingham City Council was given permission by the Government to introduce a selective licensing scheme covering 25 of the 69 wards in the city. This means all landlords in these wards must have a licence to rent out a privately-rented property.
"Selective licensing aims to improve the private rented market by setting a decent standard for properties which provides stable, healthy and safe accommodation for tenants. The scheme is being widely advertised, including in the Birmingham Mail.
"It will become a legal requirement on June 5 and will be enforced from September 4. The fee covers a property for five years and relates to costs for the administration, compliance and enforcement of the scheme.
"Birmingham City Council does not make any financial gain from it. A review of selective licensing schemes in other cities published in 2019 found no evidence to support the claim that licensing has had a demonstrable effect on rent levels."