Landlord Licensing to be Extended

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I start by summarising the existing legislation to make clear what has been applied to Landlords to date, and what are the new changes being phased in. If you are familiar with the existing legislation you may wish to jump to the section New Changes being Applied below.

The Existing Relevant Legislation:

The Housing Act 2004 introduced a new definition of a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO). Part 2 of the Act introduced the mandatory licensing of certain types of higher risk HMOs, and enables local authorities to establish discretionary additional HMO licensing schemes, subject to approval from the Secretary of State, to cover smaller types of HMO where management problems have been identified.

Under the changes in the Housing Act 2004, if a landlord lets a property which is one of the following types it is a House in Multiple Occupation:

• an entire house or flat which is let to three or more tenants who form two or more households and who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet (for a definition of household please see the frequently asked questions)
• a house which has been converted entirely into bedsits or other non-self-contained accommodation and which is let to three or more tenants who form two or more households and who share kitchen, bathroom or toilet facilities
• a converted house which contains one or more flats which are not wholly self contained  (ie the flat does not contain within it a kitchen, bathroom and toilet) and which is occupied by three or more tenants who form two or morehouseholds
• a building which is converted entirely into self-contained flats if the conversion did not meet the standards of the 1991 Building Regulations and more than one-third of the flats are let on short-term tenancies
• in order to be an HMO the property must be used as the tenants’ only or main residence and it should be used solely or mainly to house tenants. Properties let to students and migrant workers will be treated as their only or main residence and the same will apply to properties which are used as domestic refuges

Additionally in April 2010 a new Planning requirement was introduced which defined a new Planning Class of C4 Houses in multiple occupation – small shared dwelling houses occupied by between three and six unrelated individuals, as their only or main residence, who share basic amenities such as a kitchen or bathroom. I described this change & tried to correct some of the misleading statements made about this change in this blog.

New Changes being Applied

The 2004 Housing act passed the necessary legislation to allow Local Authorities to operate discretionary schemes and Landlord Licensing similar to the mandatory scheme outlined above. Each scheme needed to be approved by central government piecemeal, however the outgoing Labour Government had implemented a process to allow a blanket approval of these schemes.

The first stage of the process was consultation for a change in the process by which local authorities gain permission for additional and selective licensing schemes under the Housing Act 2004. Additional licensing allows for a local authority to license HMOs that fall outside the mandatory licensing set by Government. Selective licensing allows for the licensing on non-HMO landlords in areas of low-housing demand where there is a problem with anti-social behaviour. Currently in order to be permitted to carry through such licensing a local authority must carry out a consultation exercise and then seek the permission of the Secretary of State to go forward. The intent is to give a blanket permission to all local authorities so that they need merely carry out the consultation exercise.