There are currently 500,000 Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) in the private rented sector in England, and recent regulatory changes mean that a further 160,000 properties will fall under the new licensing rules.
The government has also introduced minimum bedroom sizes and waste disposal provisions for licensable HMOs.
The new licensing rules make mandatory HMO licensing for smaller properties that are one or two stories high. This means that mandatory licensing will now include all HMOs with five or more people who form two or more separate households.
The new regulations stipulate strict minimum size requirements for bedrooms, and if a room is smaller than the stipulated sizes it will not be allowed to be used as sleeping accommodation. The stipulated sizes are:
- 4.64 sq. m for one person under the age of 10;
- 6.51 sq. m for one person aged 10 and over;
- 10.22 sq. m for two people aged 10 and over.
These new regulations have created a complex regulatory regime. It is important that landlords and landlords’ agents avoid falling foul of new regulations as the government is launching a crackdown on rogue landlords, and steadily increasing the prosecution of landlords.
If landlords do not comply with these requirements they risk an unlimited fine. The local housing authority has the power to impose a financial penalty of up to £30,000 as an alternative to prosecution when an offence is committed. In addition to a fine, the proceeds of any rental income can be seized through a Rent Repayment Order or a Confiscation Order.
With this increasingly complex regulatory regime, the severe penalties for non-compliance and the increase of criminal prosecutions, it is more important than ever for landlords and agents to ensure that they abide by the obligations of the new regulations.