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Sneinton Landlord Prosecuted For Aggressive Behaviour

A Sneinton rogue landlord has been prosecuted by Nottingham Magistrates Court for acting aggressively towards his tenant.

Landlord Sahfaqat Ali Sadiq threatened to throw his tenant’s belongings onto the street. Nottingham City Council became aware of his behavior following a complaint from a tenant who claimed to have been ‘forcibly removed’ from a house despite paying rent and not causing any damage to the property.

The council discovered that the tenant had not received any paperwork from Sadiq, of Vicarage Avenue, Derby, after paying his deposit and rent in cash. It was also reported that the landlord had let himself into the Sneinton house on a number of occasions in pursuit of money that did not belong to him.

The tenant also claimed that Sadiq had acted aggressively towards him by shouting and threatening to throw his belongings into the street. The landlord then placed kitchen items into bin bags.

Upon inspection, it was discovered that the Sneinton house did not have the correct licensing for a house in multiple occupation (HMO).

Sadiq was found guilty of aggressive practices, failing to protect a tenancy deposit and operating a House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) without a licence at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Friday. He was fined £1,750.

Nottingham City Council stated that the three offences fell beneath the Housing Act 2004 and Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations.

Sadiq denied assaulting one of his tenants. He also stated that he had submitted an application for a HMO licence which he assumed was being processed as he had not heard of its progress.

Portfolio holder for housing and planning, Councillor Jane Urquhart, said: ‘Landlords are required to manage their property in accordance with the law. Failing to secure tenants’ deposits and acting aggressively towards them is not acceptable. This case shows that Nottingham City Council will take robust action through the courts to prosecute rogue landlords.’

Portfolio holder for community protection, Councillor Toby Neal, added: ‘This is a great result for the council, showing the importance of different teams working together and using consumer protection legislation to protect vulnerable tenants.’

Source: Residential Landlord

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New powers to tackle rogue landlords unveiled

Private sector landlords operating in Cheshire East are being warned of tough new penalties to crack down on poor housing standards.

Cheshire East Council has amended its housing enforcement policy to include new powers, which could see the most serious offenders banned from letting properties altogether or entered on to a national database of rogue landlords.

In addition, landlords will have to ensure their properties comply with a minimum energy efficiency standard or face a fine of up to £5,000.

These new powers add to the enforcement options already available to the council, which include civil penalties of up to £30,000 and rent repayment orders for certain housing offences – both of which were added to the policy in August 2017.

Since last year, the council has issued fines totalling almost £25,000 against five landlords, all of whom had failed to apply for a licence for a house in multiple occupation (HMO).

Councillor Ainsley Arnold, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for housing, planning and regeneration, said: “There are many responsible private landlords in Cheshire East, who offer well-managed accommodation that is of a good standard, helping to ensure the welfare of tenants.

“Disappointingly, though, there are a small number who either do not understand their legal responsibilities when providing housing or deliberately ignore their duties.

“This council is committed to challenging poor-quality housing and will proactively work with landlords to improve standards, where they fall short.

“But, where landlords fail to take the necessary action, we will make full use of the enforcement options available to us.”

The updated housing enforcement policy now includes a guide for landlords of HMOs, outlining the amenities, property and management standards expected of them and details a stronger ‘fit and proper person’ test.

It also includes the revised definition of HMOs that require a licence. From 1st October, all HMOs where there are five or more occupants – living in two or more separate households – must be licensed.

Cllr Arnold said: “Operating without a licence is a criminal offence and landlords could face an unlimited fine. That is why we are urging landlords of HMOs, who have not already done so, to apply for one as soon as possible.”

Source: Alderley Edge

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HMO Licence Rule Changes On The Way

HMO licence rule changes are on the way as the criteria for properties that need an HMO licence becomes broader.

At the present time you are only required by law to obtain a Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence if the rental property is:

1) Rented to five or more people from more than one household

2) At least three storeys high

3) Having tenants using the same facilities

Though individual councils are able to set further rules.

However, from the first of October this year, any property occupied by five or more people from two or more households will be considered an HMO, regardless of its height or the available facilities.

Anyone managing a property that is considered to be a House of Multiple Occupation needs to apply for an HMO licence.

HMO managers need to be considered a fit and proper person to hold an HMO licence.

The property will also be required to meet further safety obligations with regard to fire, gas and general safety, and the property must be considered suitable for the number of tenants living in it.

Minimum room sizes will also come into play in October. Bedrooms occupied by a single adult will need to measure a minimum of 6.51 square metres, while those occupied by two adults will need to measure 10.22 square metres or more.

Rooms slept in by children of 10 years and younger will have to be no smaller than 4.64 square metres.

In Scotland and Wales, regulations are slightly different. An HMO is any property rented by at least three unrelated people who share bathroom, toilet or kitchen facilities. Your responsibilities and obligations in Wales and Scotland for running an HMO may also vary.

In addition to the new HMO regulations introduced nationwide, many councils are introducing further landlord licensing schemes, so it is important for all landlords to check local regulations.

Source: Residential Landlord

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HMO licensing fees reviewed in preparation for changes in government legislation

Licensing fees paid by landlords who operate houses in multiple occupation in Cheshire East have been revised, to help ensure better living conditions and management standards.

Previously, the fee for a house in multiple occupation ( HMO ) licence in Cheshire East was set at £575 for a period of up to five years – regardless of how big the HMO was.

That charge has now been replaced by a scale of fees and charges, ranging from £430 for an initial licence for the smaller HMOsHMO , through to £760 for a renewal licence for up to five years for the largest.

The revised fees are in preparation for changes in government legislation which will come into effect in October 2018 and allow councils to bring HMOs under closer scrutiny.

At the moment, a HMO must be licensed if there are five or more occupants – living in two or more separate households – who are sharing amenities including a kitchen, bathroom or toilet and the property is set out over three or more storeys.

But from 1 October, the three-storey part of the criteria will be removed.

From the same date, councils will also be able to enforce mandatory conditions regulating the size and use of rooms as sleeping accommodation, as well as rules around waste management.

Operating without a licence is a criminal offence and the penalties include an unlimited fine. Other enforcement action for licensing offences includes banning landlords from operating and issuing civil penalties of up to £30,000.

Councillor Ainsley Arnold, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for housing, planning and regeneration, said: “Poor housing can impact on a person’s mental and physical health and mandatory licensing will be key in ensuring that landlords provide good quality, safe accommodation that is well managed.

“In Cheshire East, there are an estimated 600-650 HMOs and 51 meet the current definition for a mandatory licence. However, from October, it’s estimated that around 500 will require one.

“To make sure we can respond to the significant increase in HMOs needing a licence and safeguard those living in them, we have strengthened our resources and created additional posts.

“The licence fees and charges have also been reviewed to ensure that the full cost of processing an application, which varies according to the size of the HMO , is passed to the landlord as a valid cost of operating their business.”

As part of the changes, an initial one-year licence period has been put in place where a licence is required for a property or proposed landlord for the first time.

However, as an incentive to landlords and to support the council in managing the transition to the new regulations smoothly, those who submit a complete application by 15 August can receive an initial two-year licence.

Cllr Arnold said: “Unfortunately there are a minority of irresponsible landlords who are providing unsafe and poorly managed accommodation that falls well short of the standards we expect in Cheshire East.

“By putting in place a shorter initial licence period, it will give the council greater control and improved engagement with landlords to help ensure residents are safeguarded and that other issues such as waste management can be correctly addressed.”

Source: Cheshire East

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Goodbye HMOs, hello Flats?

There has been a trend for some time now for converting HMOs back in to single-let properties. Why?

Well, many landlords report that the HMO market in some cities and towns is completely saturated – and they are absolutely right.

For a long time now I have advised people to be very careful when acquiring or developing a HMO. It must be in the right area, there must be a constant demand, and the rental price of a room must be significantly higher than the rental price of a one bed flat.

If not, be warned that you may find yourself with a very difficult under-performing property investment. Add to this the increased regulation in the HMO market and hopefully you can see why investing in HMO’s could have had its day… Certainly outside of its traditional demand areas.

The HMO market has developed rapidly in the past decade and has served a market demand, but rest assured it is now under attack.

For evidence let’s just look at the student market. The institutional investor has entered the student market on a large scale, creating high spec purpose built blocks of rooms, supported by universities and preferred by parents – especially the parents of oversees students.

Consequently, the private landlord letting to students has found their market disrupted massively. In Hull and York this has led to an oversupply of nearly 300 student properties in each area, in turn to many landlords turning their properties back to standard residential lets.

Others have had no choice but to compete in the much more competitive ‘professional’ HMO market, targeting regular workers. This is creating on over-supply in this market too, driving down room rates. And when the room rates hit the same level as a one-bed flat rate… then suddenly tenants start to reconsider their position and letting preferences.

My view on this is relatively simple. HMO’s have their place in big cities, student areas and areas where there is an abundant supply of low income workers (look out for large distribution sheds and companies such as Amazon). When investing you need to choose your location wisely – and check for signs of saturation in the market. Look for Article 4s, get information from the council on multi-lets, and scour spare room and rent a room portals for the number of ads from an area, take-up and turnover of rooms.

For the savvy investor, though, this does represent an opportunity.

If you can identify areas with saturated HMO markets, then you can be certain that the demand for one-bed flats or studios will be there – and will be growing.

It’s worth looking at those areas and consider converting any existing HMOs into studio flats, or acquiring properties to develop into flats to serve the new market.

Source: Simple Landlords Insurance

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Portsmouth HMO Investors To Be Fined For Rubbish Failures

House in multiple occupation (HMO) landlords could face fines of up to £5,000 if they fail to put out their rubbish correctly in Portsmouth.

Portsmouth City Council has decided that landlords will be fined for failing to put out rubbish correctly. The move was approved in a meeting this week and will affect any landlord who manages a HMO. The fines will be increased by more than 8,000 per cent from the previous cost of £80.

If residents are found to be leaving waste in their front gardens, streets or neighbour’s front gardens landlords and tenants will be penalised.

The council’s housing boss, Councillor Darren Sanders, said: ‘We do not have the cleanest streets in the country. They are good but they are not the cleanest. We have to use every power we can to make it cleaner. This is one way in which we can do this. It’s clear from the residents’ complaints that something needs to be done. £60 is not a deterrent. We have to send the message that we are serious.’

However, local landlords do not agree with the new strategy.

Speaking at the meeting Southsea-based landlord and letting agent, Alwin Oliver, said: ‘I think we both agree on what we want. For many students waste management is pretty low on their list of priorities. I think the city council is not nearly clear enough to tenants about what is appropriate and what is required. What is needed is a really clear message on the website. Removal of the waste isn’t the issue, it’s who pays to get rid of it. It’s not always the landlord’s fault. If we put rules about waste removal on the tenancy agreement I think we’ve done enough. And just to say the issue we get most often is end-of-tenancy waste.’

Source: Residential Landlord

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Refinancing buy to let mortgages likely as HMO changes near

A buy to let mortgage firm says it’s likely that there will be a spike in refinancing enquiries as landlords meet a new deadline for HMOs.

A raft of changes come into effect in October, including:

– Introduction of minimum room sizes: rooms used for sleeping by one adult must be a minimum of 6.51 square metres; bedrooms shared by two adults must be at least 10.22 square metres;

– Bedrooms occupied by children of 10 years or younger must be at least 4.64 square metres;

– Local authorities have the discretion to increase minimum room sizes if they wish.

In addition:

– HMOs occupied by five or more people, must have an appropriate mandatory licence, regardless of how many storeys the property covers;

– Purpose-built flats with up to two flats in the block, require mandatory HMO licensing;

– Landlords must obtain a mandatory license if the property is occupied by persons living in two or more separate households.

Penalties for running an unlicensed HMO or for failing to meet the required licensing standards, set by the relevant local authority, could see landlords face unlimited fines.

But the implications of failing to meet local authority licensing standards on an HMO property could impact future funding claims Andrew Turner, chief executive at Commercial Trust Limited.

“More landlords will be required to bring their HMO properties up to local authority licensing standards. In scenarios where perhaps one bedroom in the property fails to meet minimum licensing standards, there could be future implications, if the landlord wants to remortgage the property.

“Investors looking to remortgage may find that a lender will only base rental stress calculations on rental income from the bedrooms that do meet local licensing rules. That could make obtaining the required level of financing a lot tougher.”

Source: Letting Agent Today

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“Over concentration of HMOs within the immediate locality” sees plans for former office space refused

Plans to convert “dilapidated” and “eyesore” office space in Wrexham into a HMO have been refused.

The application for Unit C on Maesgwyn Road had been submitted to Wrexham Council in April 2018.

Previously the offices were home to the Wrexham tram depot before being used as a bus depot. In recent years it has been used as a garage and repair shop. However they have since been vacant for a number of years and have been subject to vandalism

Under the plans put forward to Wrexham Council it had been proposed the office space was converted into a six bedroomed House of Multiple Occupancy (HMO).

In the initial application documents, the applicants stated: “We feel this planning application should be looked favourably upon as the intention to provide additional accommodation within the town centre ideally suited to young professional’s seeking work or employment in the area.

“The building is prominent to existing dwellings and is currently in a dilapidated state where vandals have targeted windows and walls within the building.

“At present the building is an eyesore to local residents, by allowing this conversion to take place the building will be revamped and be a secure building ensuring vandalism won’t occur.

“By allowing us to convert the existing offices to provide a HMO we are retaining the existing characteristics of the building, reducing its impact on the current parking arrangements and ensuring parking issues aren’t magnified should the unit be refurbished as an office.”

However a delegated decision made by the council’s head of environment and planning has seen the application refused due to an “increase in the over concentration of HMOs” in the area.

A decision notice published by the head of environment and planning states: “The proposed development would increase the over concentration of HMOs within the immediate locality to the detriment of the social fabric of the area and the amenity of the existing residents.

“Adequate onsite private open space is not provided which would be to the detriment of the future occupiers of the development and to allow the development would be contrary to Policy H4 c) and d) of the adopted Wrexham Unitary Development Plan and Local Planning Guidance Note No. 5 “Houses in Multiple Occupation”.

Source: Wrexham

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HMO licensing guidance for local authorities – and landlords

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has today issued the document “Houses in multiple occupation and residential property licensing reform: guidance for local housing authorities.”
The guidance has been produced for local housing authorities, but is also intended to be of use for landlords.

Click Here to read the full document.

From 1 October 2018 any landlord who lets a property to five or more people from two or more separate households must be licensed by their local housing authority

This document has been prepared as a guide for local housing authorities to help them understand how to implement the reforms to houses in multiple occupation (HMO)licensing.

Under the Housing Act 2004, larger that are 3 or more storeys and occupied by 5 or more persons forming at least 2 separate households are required to be licensed.

With effect from 1 October 2018 mandatory licensing of will be extended so that smaller properties used as in England which house 5 people or more in 2 or more separate households will in many cases require a licence.

New mandatory conditions to be included in licences have also been introduced, prescribing national minimum sizes for rooms used as sleeping accommodation and requiring landlords to adhere to council refuse schemes.

Housing minister, Heather Wheeler MP, said: “Everyone deserves a decent and safe place to live.

“Today’s new guidance for landlords will further protect private renters against bad and overcrowded conditions and poor management practice.”

Source: Property118

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City Council seeks views on proposed new landlord licensing scheme

Consultation on a new licensing scheme for landlords renting out shared houses is running until 20 July 2018 and the City Council is urging residents, tenants, landlords and letting agents to have their say on the proposals.

An Additional Licensing for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) was introduced in parts of Nottingham in 2014 to help ensure safe and decent standards in these homes and contribute to raising the standards of private rented homes in the city overall.

The current five-year scheme will soon end, so the council is consulting on proposals for a new scheme, which would run for a further five years from January 2019.

Additional Licensing is a scheme that applies to privately rented Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) or shared houses. All kinds of people live in HMOs, but they are mostly associated with students and younger people.

The scheme requires a licence to be held for smaller HMO properties in certain areas of the city where between three and five people who aren’t related live together and share facilities like bathrooms and kitchens. Larger HMO properties shared by five or more people will be covered by a different scheme – Mandatory licensing, which is a national scheme, covering the whole city. Landlords are required to apply for a licence, which can last up to five years, for each HMO property they rent out in the area covered by the scheme.

The new Additional Licensing scheme is proposed to cover all or parts of the following wards: Arboretum, Berridge, Bridge, Dales, Dunkirk and Lenton, Mapperley, Radford and Park, Sherwood, St Ann’s and Wollaton East and Lenton Abbey.

The current licensing scheme has had a positive impact on problems associated with HMOs since its introduction in 2014, such as gas, electric and fire safety, overcrowding and insufficient facilities, poor internal and external property conditions as well as issues of noise nuisance and waste management.

Over half of the HMOs that applied to the scheme since 2014 did not meet the required standards at first inspection. However, the council has worked with landlords to improve the conditions and management of their properties with almost 3,500 certificates being issued for compliance with the required standards to date. This, along with the scheme still receiving 25 applications a month in its fifth year, shows that the scheme is effective but there is still work to be done to fully engage landlords and maintain improvements.

Councillor Jane Urquhart, the City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Planning and Housing said: “This scheme, along with others, is a major part of our plans to improve all types of private rented housing in the city.

“Not only does the scheme help to improve poorer standards of accommodation, it means tenants know what is expected of their landlord in terms of the management of their home. It also helps us to tackle rogue and bad landlords by providing a clear set of guidelines which all landlords need to meet,and helps prevent bad landlords cutting corners or ‘undercutting’ good ones, creating a level playing field for all.

“We are encouraging landlords, managing agents, residents and tenants to have their say on these proposals to help us shape the new scheme.”

A consultation on the new scheme began on 1 May 2018 and is running until 20 July 2018. To find out more information and have your say on the current proposals visit: http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/additionalhmo.

Source: West Bridgford Wire