There Are Tough Rules Governing the Management of Larger Shared Houses says Property Expert David Lawrenson of LettingFocus.com
The Housing Act 2004 regulations on licensing of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) for England and Wales have been law for a quite a few years now.
They set out management standards for all HMOs, even those that won’t actually need a licence under the new rules.
The Act must have made the UK’s plumbers lick their lips because the regulations on amenity standards for larger HMOs are tough and meant that landlords in some areas had to install new washbasins.
Multi Let Houses
The basic standards in the rules are as follows, though local authorities may set higher standards if they wish:
For kitchen facilities, there must be enough sinks with draining boards as well as equipment for cooking food, electrical sockets, cupboards, freezer space and refrigerators as well as extractor fans, fire blankets and fire doors.
For washing facilities, if there are four or less occupiers, there must be at least one bathroom with bath or shower and one toilet (which can be located in the bathroom.) This should not be a problem for most landlords.
HMO Standards
Other amenity standards say that there must be enough fire precaution facilities and equipment, each unit of living accommodation should be adequately heated, baths, showers and wash hand basins must have hot and cold running water, bathrooms should be heated and ventilated and both bathrooms and kitchens must be of suitable size and layout.
However, for 5 or more occupiers, the regulations are much tighter. In these cases, the rules say there must be one separate toilet (which should also have a hand wash basin) and at least separate one bathroom for every 5 occupiers.
Even worse, the rules go on to say that for 5 or more occupiers, each “unit of living accommodation” must contain a washbasin or sink.
The killer here was the requirement to have a separate wash hand basin in each unit of accommodation as well as another one in a shared loo for properties with 5 or more occupiers.
According to the Residential Landlords Association (RLA), the local authorities – who are responsible for licensing - can’t see the point of this. Neither apparently can the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health Officers - the professional body for the enforcing officials.
Reaction to HMO Licensing Rules
The RLA go on to report that Leeds City Council was curious enough to mail shot colleagues at local authorities throughout the country.
Apparently, fifty seven said they didn’t agree with this. Just three supported it – ‘because it was the law’ – these three were presumably citing the “just obeying orders” defence!
All very bad news of course unless you happen to be a landlord with a sideline in plumbing!
However, landlords should always check with their local authority and see exactly what approach is being taken locally as local councils do have a degree of flexibility.
Electrical safety checks and HMOs
Another area to look out for - and which affects all HMOs of any size, is to check your electrical certification is up to date. These must be done every 5 years.
In a recent development it looks like local authorities could be given powers to restrict the number of properties being turned into HMOs in their area.
We will have to monitor this idea which looks to be running into serious opposition from student, landlord and tenant groups.
Find out more on the latest position on licensing by joining one of my one to one property consultancy or seminar sessions.
Get the UK's top selling property investment book.
About David Lawrenson and LettingFocus
I’m David Lawrenson from property mentors LettingFocus.com.
What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we offer unbiased landlord advice because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, developer or bridging loan financier.
Check out These Pages
Find out about GREAT DEALS we have arranged for landlords by clicking here: LANDLORD OFFERS
Also, check out the links below....
PROPERTY SEMINARS AND RECENT PRESS
NEXT BUY TO LET NETWORKING EVENT
LANDLORD BLOG
To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!
Copyright David Lawrenson 2010
home | about me | seminars | events | book | articles | contact
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
