A landlord has been fined £5,000 for failing to licence an HMO following a crackdown by the Royal London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.

The council has issued its first civil penalty under the Housing Act 2004 after an investigation found the Portobello Road (pictured) property had no HMO licence. The landlord, who has remained anonymous, has since applied for a licence and paid the fine.

Crackdown

A licensing scheme has been in place across the borough, which includes affluent areas such as Notting Hill, Kensington, South Kensington, Chelsea, and Knightsbridge, since June 2023.

The fine is the first to be paid since the council began to crackdown on unlicensed properties this summer. Another three penalties have been issued, and further cases for non-compliance are under investigation.

Let these penalties be a lesson to landlords that you will not get away with dodging the rules.”

Cem Kemahli, Lead Member for Planning and Public Realm, says: “Let these penalties be a lesson to landlords that you will not get away with dodging the rules or providing unsafe accommodation.

“Private rentals are crucial for housing supply, but accommodation needs to be decent and safe,” he says.

“The new licensing scheme is helping us identify landlords and managing agents who are breaking the law so we can protect tenants and make the market fairer for good landlords.”

Targeted action

Since the new licensing scheme was introduced in June 2023, the council has issued 555 licences for HMOs.

To date, 216 licensed properties have had improvement works completed as part of the scheme.

The council carried out targeted action in Earls Court, with officers visiting around 300 properties.

They found 14 properties to be potentially unlicensed based on responses from occupants. Officers are investigating further and will issue civil penalties where they confirm that landlords have failed to licence their property.

And further targeted action is now taking place in the Holland Road area.

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