Avoiding a £10K+ Fine: A Landlord’s Licensing Nightmare!
Just one property might net you a £10K fine if you’re not careful!
We’re going to take a look at a landlord from Stoke-On-Trent that was fined and what you can learn from his failures.
What happened in Stoke?
Landlord licensing is on the up… We’ve regularly reported on a new area to bring in or expand their licensing. So this is definitely something that you need to keep on top of.
But… what if you don’t?
Well, landlord Lee Challinor will probably tell you it really doesn’t pay to ignore licensing laws.
41-year-old Challinor owned 29 properties in the Potteries area of Stoke-on-Trent, but there was one property in particular, on Liverpool Road, that didn’t have a HMO licence…
Now, why wouldn’t you have a licence? Areas of the country that have selective landlord licensing do so in order to maintain standards. While it’s possible that you could miss the news that your local authority is bringing in licensing, that maybe wasn’t entirely the case here…
One of Challinor’s tenants, sick of the state of the property she was living in, raised a complaint with the local council, who discovered that a licence was the least of this property’s troubles.
There are several obligations you have to fulfil in order to qualify for a licence and Challinor didn’t fail in just one – but several!
Investigators visited the property in May and June 2022 and found that five people from four households were using a shared kitchen, bathroom and shower room. The complaining tenant described the property as ‘unhygienic and dirty’, but that’s putting it pretty mildly!
Prosecutor Megan Tollit rolled out a litany of issues with the property:
- The washing machine waste pipe flowed straight into the sink
- The fire alarm was in poor condition
- The shower was constantly blocked and caused floods
- There was a build up of mould on the shower curtain
- The toilet had no seat and the toilet itself was loose from the wall
- The bath panels had fallen off
- There was a lack of fire doors
- There were rats and a fly infestation, with a build up of hundreds of dead flies
- Appliances, walls, ceilings and floors were in poor condition in the kitchen
Phew! A licence really wasn’t the worst issue in this story.
Why was Challinor prosecuted?
This also wasn’t Challinor’s first offence, as in 2019 he was given a 12-month community order for an unlawful eviction. And then in 2021 he received an £8,000 civil penalty due to breach of regulations at another HMO.
This third time in court, in 2023, saw Challinor pleading guilty to controlling or managing a house in multiple occupation without a licence, as well as three charges of failing to comply with HMO regulations (that would be the long list of fails we covered earlier).
As prosecutor Megan Tollit pointed out:
HMOs must be licensed with the local authority. It relates to properties that house five people or more from two or more households sharing basic cooking and washing facilities.
Challinor accepted that there were five people living at the address in May 2022, as one of the tenants who had given notice asked to stay a little longer until his new property was ready. But this was after the replacement tenant had already moved in – taking the total number of tenants up to five for about 15 days.
While Challinor’s defence claimed this was a simple oversight that he fully accepted, there’s very little defence for the sheer amount of issues in the property, any of which could have posed a serious health risk to his tenants.
While communal areas were decorated and re-carpeted in October 2021, as well as new central heating and pipework installed, the defence said that Challinor:
accepts he fell short. All he can do is make sure there is no repeat. That is what he has tried to do in the 18 months since the council inspection.
And so down came the fine – District Judge Kevin Grego fined Challinor £1,000 for having no HMO licence for the property, but the bulk of the fine – £10,800 – was for failing to comply with the regulations. Challinor must also pay £2,000 costs and a £195 surcharge.
What can you learn?
We share these failures because they’re an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others.
Now there is a lot to keep on top of as a landlord (which is why we have a full checklist to make life easier for you – download it in the description box below), so it’s possible you could miss things.
But let’s dig into licensing so you can make sure you’re doing everything right licence wise.
First up – HMO licences:
- Are you renting rooms in a property, with shared access to communal areas (such as the bathroom and kitchen)?
- If you are, you need an HMO licence
- You will also need to make sure that you are following the minimum standards as laid out by the government:
- fire precautions and means of escape in case of fire
- adequate amenities (kitchen and bathrooms) are provided
- adequate space is available to tenants and there is no overcrowding
- proper management is in place
If you aren’t renting out a HMO, that doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t need to worry about licensing. As I said at the top of the video, there is also Selective Licensing to consider.
It is a criminal offence not to have a licence if you are renting in a Selective Licence area. You are responsible for keeping up to date with news in your local area and securing a licence if and when they become law.
If you aren’t sure – perhaps you’ve just purchased a property in a new area – it doesn’t hurt to give your local council a quick call to make sure BEFORE you move new tenants in.
