hmo landlord licenses
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Regulation & Law
Kent residents “Say No to HMOs”
Council will use Article 4 Direction to take action against landlords who are failing in their duties, says Gravesham councillor Shane Mochrie-Cox.
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Latest property news
Letting agency’s HMO fine puts property managers on high alert
Belvoir Nottingham Central is ordered to pay more than £1.7k after breaching HMO licensing rules.
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Latest property news
Rising cost of rental property licensing schemes revealed
In November last year The Negotiator revealed that the number of selective licensing schemes in the UK had swollen to 533 with a further 25 in consultation. But now the ‘lottery’ of fees that landlords face has also been highlighted, this time by the National Approved Lettings Scheme (NALS). Based on research it commissioned from independent information service London Property Licensing, NALS reveals the costs faced by many landlords in the capital to license their properties. It says these rising costs will force even more landlords out of the market, causing more pain for agents. For example, NALS says the licensing fees for a three storey House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) with five unrelated occupants can range from £125 in the City of London to £2,500 within Lewisham. Higher fees Faced with dwindling central government funding, councils also appear to be ramping up their licensing fees both for HMOs and selective ‘all property’ schemes. The London Property Licensing data reveals that in 23 of London’s 33 boroughs licensing fees are over £1,000 for HMOs. Also, average fees have climbed every year since 2014 and the average cost has risen by 12.9 per cent in 2016/17 and a further 5 per…
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Latest property news
Are your HMO landlords licensed?
Many landlords operating Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) properties are doing so without the correct licence in place, risking heavy fines, as well as potentially putting their tenants’ safety at risk, warns Rentguard Insurance. When a landlord recently received a huge fine for various breaches, including £3,000 in relation to violations of HMO regulations such as fire safety and being unlicensed, it added to a spate of cases highlighting the fact that many landlords are operating HMO properties without the correct licence in place. In another case, a Hounslow landlord who let out an overcrowded and rat-infested unlicensed HMO was recently ordered in court to pay nearly £40,000 in fines and legal costs. A total of 16 people were found crammed into the house and outbuildings, they included a family with a six-month-old baby living in a garden shed. Elsewhere, two west London landlords were ordered to pay a total of more than £50,000 for failing to register their property as an HMO and for breaching fire safety regulations after a fatal fire at their property in July last year. The landlords were prosecuted by Hounslow Council, which said that had the property been licensed as an HMO it would…
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