The Housing Act was passed in 2004. The updates which affect HMO’s were passed in 2005. They came into effect in 2006.
So why, 3 years on are there still landlords out there who are deliberately circumventing the law – and avoiding their legal responsibilities not just to the local authorities but to their paying tenants and customers?
I receive a lot of daily updates on the HMO market and some of what I read drives me from sadness to despair to shame to anger – knowing that these unscrupulous landlords are adding fuel to the media storm and public perception that already exists out there – that most landlords are unfeeling capitalist plunderers treating tenants like a meal ticket and providing them with unfit accomodation.
Now I and you both know that this is not true. A professional landlord is a member of a national professional landlord organization, a professional landlord has systems and checks in place, a professional landlord has maintenance schedules that they follow to keep their property in top condition – and a professional landlord cares about the service they provide – because it provides him with shelter, food and water to live the life he or she seeks to live.
Its time to kick out the slum landlords, time to stand up and be counted as professionals – so next time you hear anybody slating off the landlord community, just step in with a few words of advice and examples of your own showing that we are providing a good and necessary service to the local community.
And in regards to HMO regulations where we started. Well, they are there for a reason. We may not like them, we may not agree with all of them but its the cost of running your business.
These are just two examples of dozens I could share with you but I hope you get the message.
The time for providing ill-suited, unhabitable accomodation with poor standards of cleanliness and structure have to end. HMO regulations are there to protect and ensure that a consistent standard of accomodation is provided nationwide and its about time landlords woke up to this – it’s nothing personal, this is business.