HMO License - I don't think my Landloard has one...

iom_dave

Hi,

Have been living in a house for about the last 6 months and have become aware of this homes for multiple occupancy license.

I live in a 3 floor, 5 bedroom house (we all have individual contracts) - so I think HMO applies. I'm quite happy with the house - though the landlord is slow to do anything.

I did mention it to him a few weeks ago but he thought it was some sort of red tape bureaucratic nonsense. Had had a quick look and it seems a little more than that...

The guy's a new btl landlord who has no idea what he's doing - got the house done up quite poorly by some Brazilian builders and got conned by the first batch.

Looking online there seems to be some hefty fines (upto £20k) and seems to be a criminal offence. Also I may be able to claim my rent back. On the other hand the landlord seems to be nice guy, but a bit usless and ha no idea about his responsibilities - i had to get him to get some smoke alarms when I moved in.

Any thoughts and what experience have others had of this?

amboy

individual contractse in a HMO and is irrellevant, you are in a licensable HMO as long as all 3 floors are occupied by 5 or more people.

It seems that you like your LL and he has been co-operating with you, why dont you explain the heavy penalties involved.

I am sure you will be getting responses from others saying to keep quiet and inform your LA, however as the legislation is so new and some councils are only just issuing licences now after 7 months of the application being with them, it could be a case that he has applied.

HTH

olly300

If you have no problem with your landlord then do as amboy says, and if you correspondent with the landlord in writing about it then keep a copy of any correspondence.

If you move out and he starts being awkard with giving you back your deposit then is the time to not to be nice.

BTW most landlords are slow to do anything about problems unless they are emergency problems i.e. no heating in winter, severe water leaks, burglarly. This is due to amongst other things that if a landlord employs workmen, any good workman is going to be busy so won't be available for a few weeks.

iom_dave

i thought that may be the case - does anyone know the likelihood of reclaiming the rent - or is this to try and get people to report their landlord?

The house is just a 5 bedroom ex council house with nothing to improve or meet fire standards

PROFESSIONAL_LANDLORD

does anyone know the likelihood of reclaiming the rent ............ ZERO !


He might need your dough to pay a fine .....................:eek:

christabell

Why do you want to reclaim your rent? Do you think you should be living rent free?

thesaint

I sniff a troll...

iom_dave

The rent reclaim comes from:-

http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1163883&cat=100027#acat

"In certain cases, rent from housing benefit or paid by tenants themselves can be reclaimed if a landlord is found to be operating a licensable HMO without a licence. If a landlord has been convicted of the offence (or the local housing authority is satisfied that the offence has been committed even though the landlord has not been prosecuted), a local housing authority can reclaim any benefits paid when the landlord was operating without a licence by applying for a Rent Repayment Order. Similarly, tenants (including former tenants) are also allowed to make an application for a Rent Repayment Order where the landlord has been convicted of the offence or where a Rent Repayment Order has already been granted to a local housing authority on the same property."


It all sounds pretty serious. I don't know how many other landlords my be caught up in this - it may explain why the house I live in was quite cheap when the LL bought it - for a 5 bedroom house in greenwich (the rent is about 2k pm in total on a house that cost around 270k at the end of last year)!

Any thoughts as to what the conditions are rent would be repaid?

I would like to add I'm not trying to con my landlord etc but £3000 is £3000 (the rent to date) - and would help towards a house deposit one day!

Part of the reason I was looking into this was I was vaguely considering buying a similar house and renting it out and living in one room - though this HMO license would make it very expensive, along with the interest rate rises coming allow this idea has been shelved.

Anyone any idea of how many houses are not up to HMO standard and have been bought by new BTL landlords who don't know what there are doing?

As a tenant I think there's a lot of amateur LLs who don't really know quite what they have let themselves in for...

iom_dave

whats a troll?

red40

In a quite sort of way you hold the upper hand at the moment then, as do the other 4 occupiers. Unless any of you are in rent arrears, the landlord cant recover possession by issuing a section 21 notice.

The only way you would get any rent back (maximum of 12 months) is if the local authority become involved and they either prosecute or apply themselves for a Rent Repayment Order in respect of housing benefit.

Print off some information an put it in an envelope, of course it could be that an application is already in for a licence, all you have to do is contact the local authority and ask, or go to their office and ask to see the Register of Licenses.

One way or the other he is going to cop it eventually, unless it becomes a HMO that doesn't require a licence if one of you leaves and is not replaced.

TJ27

I've been issuing HMO licenses for several months now. To be honest it's taken that long for us (well me) to get up to speed and become familiar with the legislation. However, we do now know what we're doing and the honeymoon period is about to come to an end for several landlords. A few agents too.

We are about to refuse our first licenses on "fit and proper person" grounds.

We are also training up each and every one of our senior officers to handle prosecutions. We are expecting to be prosecuting several landlords in the near future and it is quite correct that the fines can be up to £20k.

We are also recruiting staff in preparation to check that licence conditions are met within the stated time period. i.e. If we grant a licence today on the condition that a fire alarm is installed within six months, then we will be sure to visit again in six months time. If it isn't done, prosecution will follow.

Councils are also obliged to hold records of licensed properties, so it isn't difficult to find out who's got one and who hasn't.

Phone your local HMO licensing section and just ask them a few questions.