HMO Licensing changes causing us to lose our Flat

saajan_12

Herzlos said:

chipgirl100 said:

This change hasn't made our rent any cheaper and we would no longer be able to afford the flat just the 3 of us (one of us was looking to leave anyway).

I'm confused by this part. I thought with an HMO you all had separate rent agreements with the landlord, so dropping a tenant shouldn't put your bills up.

Is there anything stopping you renting a 3 bed between you elsewhere?

No, a HMO for licencing purposes is based on the number of people / households sharing a property. Here a 'household' is a family unit in reality, eg couples, family members etc, regardless of the legal agreement between tenant(s) and landlord. Eg a group of 4 friends not otherwise related would be 4 households, even if they banded together to rent the property. 

This makes things difficult if tenants that came in as a unit aren't honest about how they are related, but somehow its the LL's responsibility to know. To make things more confusing, HMO in a council tax context means something slightly different. 

sheramber

You may have alerted the LA to the flat above,  who will now receive the same email.

chipgirl100

ThisIsWeird said:

That's really unfortunate, Chipgirl, and sooo short-sighted and counterproductive.

Fingers crossed there is a wee opening for common sense in the LA. Has your LL tried too?

not sure to be honest we've never had contact with them personally but I wouldn't assume they've done a whole lot over it. Herzlos said:

chipgirl100 said:

This change hasn't made our rent any cheaper and we would no longer be able to afford the flat just the 3 of us (one of us was looking to leave anyway).

I'm confused by this part. I thought with an HMO you all had separate rent agreements with the landlord, so dropping a tenant shouldn't put your bills up.

Is there anything stopping you renting a 3 bed between you elsewhere?

in theory if we passed the stuff or got guarantors  no, it would just mean a change in job for at least one of us as they wouldn't be able to make their 6am shift anymore from anywhere we could afford so that's why we are trying to fight to stay in this areapropertyrental said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

Herzlos said:

chipgirl100 said:

This change hasn't made our rent any cheaper and we would no longer be able to afford the flat just the 3 of us (one of us was looking to leave anyway).

I'm confused by this part. I thought with an HMO you all had separate rent agreements with the landlord, so dropping a tenant shouldn't put your bills up.

Is there anything stopping you renting a 3 bed between you elsewhere?

It can still be a HMO with a joint tenancy. 

Which begs the question: do you each have your own separate tenancy agreement, with the rent for your room, or are you all named on a single joint tenancy with the rent for the house?

I saw that the other flat in the building in the same position with presumably the same layout is allowed 4 households.  

Have you actually checked the layout of the other flat?

we're on one tennacy where we're all equally liable for the rent which I'm guessing is a problem with the small room? 
no we've never spoken to that flat and would seem weird I would've thought to knock out the blue and ask to look around their flat. we've seen our neighbors flat and they have roughly the same layout which is why we're assuming its the same thing up but could be totally wrong on this of course