Firm warns of council bureaucracy as landlord fined £5,000 over minor mistake

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Firm warns of council bureaucracy as landlord fined £5,000 over minor mistake

A legal expert has accused councils of using “bureaucracy as a weapon to generate enforcement revenue” after a landlord was fined £5,000 for ticking the wrong box on a Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) form.

Phil Turtle from Landlord Licensing & Defence is warning landlords that minor application errors could cost them thousands of pounds in fines.

The firm helped one landlord after a council in the Midlands penalised them for inadvertently ticking the wrong box on HMO application forms.

The landlord only became exposed to enforcement because the council chose to refund their licence fee on the basis that they had applied for the wrong type of HMO licence.

Unregulated, unaccountable and landlord-hating

Landlord Licensing & Defence warns other councils are rejecting HMO applications where a landlord inadvertently uses an ‘additional’ licensing form instead of a ‘mandatory’ form, or vice versa.

Even though the schemes require the same physical licences and identical conditions.

The firm explains by rejecting the application and refunding the fee, which is often done without notifying the landlord, the council effectively removes the landlord’s statutory protection of having an ‘application duly made’ under the Housing Act 2004.

Once that protection is gone, councils are promptly issuing Civil Penalty Fines for the operation of an unlicensed HMO.

Phil Turtle, the compliance director at Landlord Licensing & Defence, said: “Whilst we achieved a reduction in this case, the council refused to accept they had created the situation.

“They have no right in law to refuse an HMO licence application simply because it was the ‘wrong sort’ of HMO application, but they are unregulated, unaccountable and frankly, landlord-hating.

“It is the classic equivalent of British Rail blaming ‘the wrong sort of snow’ on the line!”

He continued: “Sadly, the landlord was not prepared to take this to the First-tier Tribunal because of the severe reputational damage that a public airing would inflict on their business, which would have carried a far greater impact than the fine itself.

“Effectively, a landlord was bullied into accepting the council’s unlawful action as their own guilt!”

Councils are acting unlawfully

Mr Turtle adds that under the Housing Act 2004, there is no legal justification for a local authority to refuse or refund an HMO licence application that has otherwise been duly made just because the landlord did not understand the difference between two identical schemes or ticked the wrong box.

He said: “It’s obviously morally repugnant. The licences for most councils are exactly the same and rarely state whether they are mandatory or additional on the final document.

“By acting in this manner, councils are acting unlawfully and, as will surprise no-one, immorally. They are using pure bureaucracy as a weapon to generate enforcement revenue rather than to improve housing standards.”

Landlord Licensing & Defence are urging landlords to check their local council’s licensing criteria or seek professional representation when submitting HMO applications to avoid falling victim to these traps.

Landlords can book a no-charge, no-commitment 10-minute diagnostic call with an expert on HMO and selective licensing or other compliance matters by clicking here or by calling 0208 088 8393.

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