Yes, more and more migrant workers are coming into the UK – and unfortunately, many of them take low paid jobs which mean that a lot of them have to live in HMO’s (houses of multiple occupation).
Now whilst this is fine when they are living in a licenced and regulated HMO, what happens when they live in an unlicenced potentially overcrowded HMO?
Two things spring to my mind – potential issues with language barrier/culture together with lack of understanding of their RIGHTS and thus potentially taking a tenancy up in an unsafe house.
This has particular issues for health and fire safety in HMO’s. A recent article I read went into detail on the typical issues faced and what the local councils and fire services are doing to try and combat it.
So what can we as HMO landlords do about this?
Firstly, we should educate any of our migrant worker tenants as to the correct workings of any fire safety systems
Secondly, we should provide guidance or access to native speakers/written materials so that they can understand the issues in more detail.
Thirdly, we should provide excellence in accomodation which by its very nature should alleviate many of the issues that migrant workers face in finding accomodation in the UK.