This is a question to the blog clinic fast track from Richard (not his real name), who is a lodger landlord in England.

I have an unlicensed HMO in Bexley.  I had a visit from the council licensing team about 12 days ago, who say they have had a complaint which I believe is from a current tenant. I didn’t see the person from the council I just found a letter without an envelope with ‘landlord’ then my name on the kitchen table a week after they visited.

There are six lodgers and me in the house, and I believe it meets all current fire and space regulations.  Except for one room which is too small. There are linked smoke alarms and fire doors with automatic closers in all habitable rooms.

The house is generally in very good condition and there is plenty of communal space with two kitchens two bathrooms two living rooms. There is CCTV with warning stickers on the front and back door in the communal areas (except bathrooms obviously), which can be removed as I’m not registered for data.

If the council person has been inside the house I don’t think they can have seen much because the bedrooms are locked.

My gas safety certificate expired in November, so I should get a new one as soon as possible and my electrical safety EICR is up to date.

My question really is what should I do next? I would like to to make it a legitimate HMO, but not sure how possible that is. I would need planning permission to change it to sui generis use and a licence. I think I could live in the small room; I don’t think there would be a restriction on that because I’m not a tenant.

I have given the tenant who I believe complained 28 days notice to leave in writing as agreed in the written lodger agreement that we both signed at the beginning.

I have called the guy from the licensing team a couple of times and emailed him but so far I haven’t had a reply.

Answer

HMO licensing

The most important thing to say is that you need to get an HMO license. The fact that the occupiers are lodgers in your home does not, so far as I am aware, exempt you from the need to obtain an HMO license if the property is licensable.

You should do this as soon as possible. Failure to license can result in your Local Authority bringing a prosecution in the Magistrates Court, where fines are unlimited, or serving a penalty notice for up to £30,000.

Bear in mind also that your lodgers may apply for a Rent Repayment Order (which can be for up to 12 months’ worth of rent) at the First Tier Tribunal.  Section 56 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 (which sets out the interpretation of terms in Part 2 regarding Rent Repayment Orders) specifically says ‘tenancy’ includes a license.  So, it is important that you are compliant.

Other issues

I do not advise on planning as I am not a planning lawyer.  But you can get advice from your Local Authority planning officers about the need (or not) to obtain planning permission.

You should obtain a gas safety certificate as soon as possible.

You should also ensure that the small room is not being used as a bedroom. We have a post here which has details of the mandatory room sizes for HMO properties.

It rather looks as if the rule will include the landlord’s use of the small room as a bedroom.  The regulations refer to ‘persons’ using the room for sleeping accommodation, and you are a person!

You should also register with the Information Commissioner’s Office (cost is normally in the region of £40 pa). You will need to do this as

• You hold data about your lodgers.
• With six lodgers, you are almost certainly going to be treated as a ‘business’ and
• You have installed CCTV.

You will find a help article here.

And finally

I think you should get on with all this ASAP.

The Council are clearly ‘on to you’. Once they have you in their sights, they are unlikely to forget about you – so don’t assume that just because they have not got back to you, they are not going to take things further. It does often take them a long time to get anything done, but they get there in the end.

Note also that we have a free Lodger Landlord information website which has guidance on all the main issues that lodger landlords need to know about.

The post Lodger landlord asks for advice on HMO situation appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.

Landlord Law brings another of our weekly Newsround, let’s see what has been in the news this week.

Tenants still unaware of Renters’ Rights Bill

New research out claims that 43% of tenants still know very little about the Renters’ Rights Bill, and 5% of tenants are totally unaware of the changes coming in.

The report out by Pegasus Insight revealed that 31% of tenants believe that the new bill will have a slightly positive impact while 6% said it would a negative impact. They hope that their living conditions will improve and they will have stronger tenancy stability with the abolishment of Section 21. They also feel that they will stay in a tenancy longer and 26% of tenants will move.

As regards to the bill impacting the market 27% of tenants feel that their rents will increase, and this appears to be true as 62% of landlords have said that they will recoup their losses as a direct impact from the new bill by increasing their rents.

Mark Long director of Pegasus Insight said

Our latest Tenant Trends research report suggests more needs to be done to educate renters about the new legislation set to be implemented by this Autumn, as a significant proportion of tenants know little to nothing about the imminent changes to their rights.

Quarterly inspections should be the norm – letting agents claim

Inventory Base are urging all letting agents to encourage their landlords to carry out quarterly property inspections, and this should be the norm as it ‘enhances tenant well-being, mitigates against long term costs and protects asses values’.

They also state that inspections don’t need to be costly or time consuming with the use of modern technology apps for logging an inspections and following up with any repairs. This also can speed up the length of time it takes to carry out a repair.

Another incentive for more regular inspections is compliance and risk mitigation, with fines reaching anything as high as £30,000 now for health and safety breaches regular three monthly inspections enables landlords to identify any risks before they turn into liabilities.

Here are Landlord Law we have always said that inspections should be carried out every three months as a minimum and we have our Property Inspection Kit here.

Tribunal backs tenant on rent increase

A First Tier Tribunal has rejected a landlords 25% rent increase after the tenant was unhappy with the increase. Propshire Ltd served a Section 13 onto their tenant Charmaine Powell increasing her rent from £2000pm to £2500.

The court heard that the property had damp and mould and a faulty heating system. The landlords challenged this saying the damp was down to the tenant not ventilating the property adequately. A similar property let nearby for £2100pm was discredited by the landlords saying that it was below market rent.

The tribunal ruled in favour of the tenant and ‘did not accept Mr Grunhut’s assertion that the poor condition of the property was entirely due to the tenant’s lifestyle’. It stated that £2300 would be an acceptable rent if the property was in good condition he deducted a further 10% to reflect the condition of the property and ruled that £2070 was the correct rent to be paid.

Tribunals are bracing themselves for many more claims to come their way post Renters’ Rights Bill where Section 13 will be the only way to increase rent and tenants will be able to challenge rent increases more readily.

Council Licensing is too complex – claim

Portsmouth Council’s HMO’s licensing system is ‘needlessly complex’ claim the Portsmouth & District Landlords Association. They say that the council’s system will not automatically transfer data from old licenses to new ones unless a request is made is writing, and it is not written in the renewal notice either.

This results in landlords having to re-apply at renewal as if they were applying for the first time causing much more paperwork for landlords and using up more of their time, and giving more chances of making mistakes. Furthermore, their licences will only last for 2.5 years and not 5 years if a renewal application is submitted less than 14 days to the expiry date.

Martin Silverman of the landlords association said

Sadly we have been forced to compile and issue guidelines to help landlords navigate a licence renewal scheme that is approaching Byzantine proportions in its needless complexity.

You can read more here.

Snippets

New ‘crackdown on bad landlords’ launched by London council
Landlords encouraged to join selective licensing online event
Council to review 70 rent overcharge evictions
Should tenants worry more about the Renters’ Rights Bill than landlords?

See also our Quick News Updates on Landlord Law

Newsround will be back again next week

The post Landlord Law Newsround #381 appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.