Landlords need to take notice.
In an effort to emphasise the importance of Landlords providing safe and comfortable accomodation for their tenants we are highlighting what can be the end result for a Landlord who does not conform.
An article in the Newham Recorder explains how council officers visited a 3 bedroomed maisonette in Forest Gate in July2012 after receiving a complaint concerning the terrible state of the property from the tenant who lived at the address with 3 children.
The council issued an improvement notice to the landlord who did not act upon it, the work to carry out neccessary repairs totalled £4,000, on August 3rd this year, the landlord was ordered to pay £10,491.11 in a rent repayment order to the council.
Landlords are just are not getting the message re the licencing houses for multiple occupation, the fact is that a HMO requires a licence, if it does not have one then the landlord can expect heavy fines.
Last month a landlord was fined £5,750 for failing to licence a house in multiple occupation (HMO) and for breaching 17 of the management regulations after 11 people, were found to be living in a house in East London. The defendant was also ordered to pay £618.59 towards the council’s legal costs and a victim surcharge of £120.
In an earlier case, a 40-year-old woman was fined £8,783.60 for failure to licence a property as a HMO, breaching management regulations and failing to provide relevant documentation to the council.
The fines received by Landlords in the above cases should serve as a warning to other Landlords who do not conform to Local Authority regulations when renting out property.