Is My Rental Property an Unwitting or Accidental HMO?
Tenant dies in HMO fire – landlord gets 4 months plus fines, Fire Safety Order
Stoke-on-Trent landlords fined almost £1,800 & more will be prosecuted
Landlord convicted of unlawfully evicting tenant now fined for running unlicensed HMO in Telford
Bristol housing charity tops list of UK’s most-prosecuted landlords
Issuing 2,500 Civil and legal Landlord Penalty Notices puts £7/month on every Liverpool Rent
Rogue rent-to-rent landlord will face prison if he tries to rent out property again
Tenant in arrears? Text them! New research finds phone calls are too intimidating…
Harrow rogue landlord’s nightmare flat left tenants at ‘imminent risk of death’
Rogue landlord in Harrow faces jail if he doesn’t pay £1.5m fine
Landlord fined for operating illegally
Mandatory Professional Qualification to be a Landlord says Commission
Tribunal Tells Coventry City Council that £31,499 Landlord Penalty is ’not in any way reasonable’ and slashes it to £3,300
HMO Landlords: Guilty Until Proven Innocent
Record £20,000 fine for unlicensed landlord with 62 properties
Council Demolishes illegally occupied outbuilding. Issues £16,000 fine
Ombudsman names Southwark, Hammersmith & Fulham, Lambeth, Westminster, Haringey and Camden councils as the worst landlords in the country for leaseholders and shared ownership
Council to crack down on Dorset Landlords in Dorset
Coventry Landlord £180,000 Proceeds of Crime fine is just deserts
HMO landlord fined after Barnet Council investigation
London Boroughs of Camden and Newham slated by Housing Ombudsman for SEVERE maladministration
£66,000 fine for landlord letting out HMO with safety failings
Landlord fined £90,000 for faultless properties
Criminal sentences after rental property carried “risk of death”
Landlords Beware: Accidental Landlord Punished More for Harmless Error Than Criminals Are Punished For Assaulting Police Officers!
Essex ‘Accidental Landlord’ stung with £3,500 rent repayment order
London landlord gets eye-watering £450,000 fine
Landlord ordered to pay more than £20k
‘Landlord in Crisis’ Cases Last Week
Rogue landlord fined £7,000 for not having an HMO licence
Oxford landlord issued financial penalty of £15,624 for HMO offences
Co-operative HMO Landlord has fine reduced to £2,000 as Birmingham starts Civil Penalty Regime
Success! We bat 5 over zealous council court summonses into the long grass – defending older landlord
Landlord found guilty of unlawful harassment and misleading practices
The true Cost of Unlicensed HMOs
Bath pair fined £16k for holding wrong HMO licenses
£30,000 fine for lack of safe fire escape route – as resident hangs off guttering to save his life
Property manager hit with £10,500 fine for unlicensed HMO
Rent-to-renter fined £20,000 for illegally sub-letting HMO
Council boasts of issuing 133 penalty notices and 23 improvement notices
Fine of up to £30,000 for failing to comply as Slough introduces 3 person HMO and Selective Licensing
Landlord fined for failing to make safety improvements
Fire risk assessor prosecuted brings serous doubt to DIY Fire Risk Assessments
Two Staffordshire landlords fines for health and safety breaches
Landlords prosecuted after flouting licensing laws in Gainsborough
Whopping fine should ‘serve as a warning to any other rogue landlords’
Six month custodial sentence for criminal landlord
Tribunal upholds civil penalty notice and £8,852 fine on landlord
Council takes to the sky to find rogue landlords
Worthing landlord fined £22,000 for renting out unlicensed HMO
Landlord fined £29k for putting tenants’ lives ‘at risk’
Is my Rental Property an Unwitting or Accidental HMO?
Far more properties are HMOs (legally) than owners realise.
So, here’s the simplified rule:
“If your property has three or more sharers – and one or more is not related, IT IS LEGLLY AN HMO.”
And because it is legally an HMO you face massive fines if you don’t comply with the fire, health and other requirements of the Managements of Houses in Multiple Occupation Regulations (England) 2006 as interpreted by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System.
“But I didn’t know it was an HMO.”
Guess what? Just like every other area of British Law, IGNORANCE IS NO DEFENCE.
So…. If your property contains three or more people and just one of them is not related and you haven’t fitted the appropriate:
- Fire Detection and Alarm System
- Fire Doors
- Notices
- Protected Fire Escape Route
- Triple full hazard prevention measure
- Energy lighting (in some cases)
- No key required exit locks on rooms and external doors
- Safety glass in certain windows and doors
- And completed a Fire Risk Assessment
…then you are at risk of either Criminal prosecution or Civil Penalty fines from the local Council that are usually around £5,000 for each item that you haven’t complied with.
The most important thing to do is to make your property compliant as a matter of extreme urgency.
Preferably before the Council discovers your non-compliances.
Not sure how to do that? Then contact us for urgent advice.
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