£66,000 Landlord Fine for Fire Breach
Landlords, have we got another HUGE fine for you – £66,000 of it.
When it comes to renting your property, your tenant’s safety should be paramount. That’s why there are so many legal requirements to sort out – like a Gas Safety Certification and EPC – before you are able to rent a property legally. And if you fail in that… well, you have to pay – dearly.
What happened in Reading?
Landlord Mohammed Naseer Zamir, aged 41, rented out property in Short Street. Reading. Although… Was he actually renting out a HMO?
Mr Zamir claimed that the property was actually two self-contained flats, each occupied by a single household. However, several visits by the council’s private sector housing team between October 2019 and February 2020 found that ‘each flat was in fact in multiple occupation’.
On top of this, the officers found that there were a series of breaches of HMO management regulations.
What is a HMO?
Before we go on, let’s take a step back and look at what a HMO is. HMO stands for ‘House of Multiple Occupation’. The government website defines a house in multiple occupation (HMO) if both of the following apply:
- at least 3 tenants live there, forming more than 1 household
- you share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other tenants
And your home is a large HMO if both of the following apply:
- at least 5 tenants live there, forming more than 1 household
- you share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other tenants
To be clear, the government also defines a household as either a single person or members of the same family who live together. The definition of a family varies from couples married or living together (including people in same-sex relationships); blood relatives and step-parents and step-children.
There are multiple rules around HMOs, including:
- You must have a HMO licence if occupied by 5 or more people. A council can also include other types of HMOs for licensing, so be sure to check with your local council
- The council has to carry out a Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) risk assessment on your HMO within 5 years of receiving a licence application and you must carry out work to eliminate any risks found
- You must keep the council fully informed of any changes, for example if your tenants circumstances change and they have a child
As you can see, there’s a lot to consider when renting a HMO – so clearly Mr Zamir dropped the ball here.
What did Mohammed Zamir do wrong?
When officers investigated Mr Zamir’s property, they didn’t just find that he was actually renting a HMO, despite his claims.
As well as ‘general disrepair’, they found, more alarmingly, ‘serious security and fire safety concerns’ including:
- The means of escape was not fire resistant and was in ‘poor repair’
- Fire precautions across the property were ‘not being maintained’ so tenants were left ‘vulnerable to becoming trapped in the event of a fire’
- The main entrance door was not secure, leaving the property vulnerable to intruders
- Socket outlets were adjacent to shower cubicles, as well as disrepair to socket outlets
- No current Gas Safety Certificate was supplied when requested
Mr Zamir was granted the opportunity to address the issues in the property ‘informally’, which is pretty fair on the council’s part. But – you guessed it! – he failed to carry out the work.
And in fact, the fire safety concerns were ‘so serious’ that Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service joined the February inspection.
Finding that no moves had been made to make the property secure and safe and with Mr Zamir also ignoring written requests for information about the property, the case was brought to Reading Magistrates Court in December 2020.
He was found guilty of failing to comply with the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 and 13 charges of failing to comply with the HMO Management Regulations via The Housing Act 2004.
As a result, he was fined £66,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,480 and a victim surcharge of £181. Reading Borough Council hoped that the huge fine would send a clear message to other HMO landlords who were ‘failing to reach required standards’, that ‘appropriate standards must be maintained’.
What can you do better?
We tell you these stories in a bid to educate – here’s what you could end up paying if you don’t do things properly.
- Get your legal documentation in order. Gas Safety Certificates, EICRs and EPCs aren’t suggestions, they are legal requirements. If you don’t have these, you will be renting out your property illegally and be at risk of fines, liable for any issues in the property caused by missing these checks and it will scupper you if you want to evict at any point. We also heartily recommend that you keep your historical documentation. Keep a hard copy file or upload a scan to the cloud, so should you ever need to prove an unbroken chain of compliance, you can do so.
- Safety first! It should go without saying that your property should be safe to live in. After all, the Gas Safety and EICR requirements are designed to ensure that rental properties are safe. But as the landlord, you also need to make sure that doors are secure, there are no fire hazards in the property… anything that could put your tenants at risk.
- HMO or no? If you are renting a HMO – get a licence. The rules around HMOs, as we covered at the start of the video, are a little complex, but familiarise yourself with them. At a time of rising rents, house shares are that little bit more affordable for tenants, so you need to make sure that you’re following all the rules. Reach out to your local council for advice if you are at all uncertain!
So that’s how you end up with a £66,000 fine – and how to avoid it!
