COUNCIL bosses are claiming a "clear mandate" for strict licensing of all rented properties in the city – based on just 58 responses to a consultation.

They said 45 people out of Oxford's estimated population of 150,000 backed tougher rules to combat rogue landlords.

This meant there was "no need" to change the proposals.

At the moment landlords only need licences for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), which are those with three or more people living in them from separate families.

A typical licence costs £400 per property, which the National Landlords' Association has branded "nothing more than a tax".

The new rules, buried in a draft policy document, would potentially extend this to another 10,000 properties not covered by the HMO scheme.

Judy Crompton, a landlord based in Cowley, said: "The council just does not get it at all.

"They always say they have a mandate but they are just determined to carry on the path they are going on.

"We have young people who cannot afford to live here and have to drive in to work every day, but the council just blames high rents on landlords and not its own policies."

However, the city council says the move would allow it to better police living standards.

The draft policy has been recommended for approval on Thursday.

A report to senior councillors said: "Given the results of the extensive consultation exercise there is a clear mandate for approving the draft policy and no need to make any further changes."

According to the city council, an eight-week consultation was held on the draft policy document through its website.

It publicised the consultation with a press release and social media, also sending direct invitations to comment to residents groups, landlords, letting agents, the county council, students, Shelter and Public Health England.

Despite this, just 58 responses were received and not all respondents answered every question. About a quarter of respondents were homeowners in the city, with 38 per cent renting.

Landlords and letting agents made up about 23 per cent of responses.

The council said 78 per cent of people agreed it should "proactively regulate the private rented sector and use all of its powers", with 67 per cent agreeing it should expand its licensing scheme to all of the private rented sector.

The proposed policy says this would improve standards and suggests it could be introduced by January 2017, but it would have to satisfy certain legal criteria and hold another consultation.

After this, it could only apply the new rules to 20 per cent of the city without needing permission from the government.

City council leader Bob Price said: "The consultation was very thorough in terms of dissemination but the number of responses was not as high as we wanted.

"It is clear the people that did respond were supportive of the proposals but there will be no movement on this until we have had a more comprehensive consultation.

"The basic reason behind this remains that conditions in some of the private rented sector are as bad as HMOs and it is dangerous for tenants."

The licensing proposals will be considered at a meeting of the city executive board at 5pm on Thursday in Oxford Town Hall.