Is My Rental Property an Unwitting or Accidental HMO?
Landlord who refused to pay for legal assistance gets stung for £28,000 in Rent Repayment Orders
Just Move Estates fined £10k for failing to install smoke alarms in rented house in Leyton
Landlord ordered to behave himself after being abusive towards tenant
Repayment and banning orders may be applied to landlord
£40k fine for unsafe scaffolding at house
Suspended sentence for Fire Risk Assessor and warning to Landlords
Council encourages tenants to get Rent Repayment Order against Landlord
Northampton Council takes Landlords house
Oxford landlord convicted of repeat HMO offences
Landlord £300,000 property confiscated for planning breach & faces prison
Landlord handed two-year ban and £41k bill for putting tenants’ lives at risk
Issuing 2,500 Civil and legal Landlord Penalty Notices puts £7/month on every Liverpool Rent
Landlords advised to watch out as Councils accused of not issuing enough Rent Repayment Orders
Landlord fined £6,000 after rat droppings and disrepair
£130k in fines for banned agency director and landlord because of unlicensed HMO
Lettings agent jailed after £182,000 fraud
HMO landlord fined after Barnet Council investigation
Three rogue lettings agents expelled by The Property Ombudsman
HMO landlord hit with £40k fine
Landlord fined for ‘extremely dangerous’ rental property
Landlord without HMO licence fined £20,000
Quashing Improvement Notices – It’s a win!
Rent Repayment Order Magic Money Tree is pretty much dead!
Landlord hit with £66,000 bill after sending in heavies to kick tenant out
Unlicensed landlord ordered to pay over £2,600
Bristol Council Starts Cynical campaign to bankrupt Landlords
London Borough of Camden secures ASBO injunction & exclusion zone against landlord
Stoke-on-Trent landlords fined almost £1,800 & more will be prosecuted
Harrow rogue landlord’s nightmare flat left tenants at ‘imminent risk of death’
Council with Most Prosecutions of Agents and Landlords is Named
Bath pair fined £16k for holding wrong HMO licenses
CIEH to Train Housing Enforcement Officers to Prosecute Thousands More Landlords
Landlord ordered to pay more than £20k
University acts Criminally putting Landlords in Danger of Prosecution
Tenants suffer fire, but council only interested in prosecution for lack of HMO licence
Letting agency hit with £10,000-plus fine for smoke alarm failings
Liverpool Council hands out 2,000 legal notices, 154 cautions, 89 civil penalty notices and 159 prosecutions
Portsmouth lettings agency Kings Estates and Southsea landlord fined £18,000 for unlicensed 12-bed student house
Leading council has so far fined rogue agents and landlords £100,000
£64,000 fine for HMO without planning permission
Landlord convicted of unlawfully evicting tenant now fined for running unlicensed HMO in Telford
Capitol Riot Suspects Self-Incriminate Just Like Landlords Do Every Day
London landlord gets eye-watering £450,000 fine
Rent Repayment Order £8,975 against Landlord who failed to have Selective Licence
Oxford City Council has collected a total of £31,606 in penalties for housing offences from its first three cases since the introduction of new financial penalty powers
Judge tears into Northampton Council’s Samantha Ling and her department
Landlords ordered to pay more than £6k for HMO failings
Landlord Fined £2000 for substandard property
BTL landlord ordered to pay £9,500 for failing to maintain property
A Hertfordshire landlord has pleaded guilty to 28 offences resulting in a fine of over £20,000.
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
- Trip and fall hazard prevention measure
- Emergency lighting (in some cases)
- Keyless 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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