Fines for HMO landlord who allowed sleeping in forbidden rooms

Definitely a pattern here

Did this landlord allow it or was it more likely the case that friends of the tenants moved in, sub letting

I note the Council’s didn’t get prosecuted for having people and families with pushchairs sleeping on their property under tents and umbrellas adjacent to front entrance doors at the Civic Centres/ Town Halls.

I've bought several traditional unconverted Glasgow tenement flats which had one proper bedroom and a lounge and large kitchen, both with built in bed recesses.

These flats survived in this form since around 1880, avoiding deaths from lack of inside toilets and running water, unguarded open coal fires and cooking ranges, frequent use of chip pans and constant smoking indoors.

The 1901, 1911 and 1921 censuses showed these flats to have between 8 and 12 permanent residents, often with a "lobby dosser", who slept on a mattress put down on the hall or lobby floor at bedtime.

I've converted these into 3 bedroom flats with either internal kitchens or bathrooms but have had to spend around £5000 on self closing fire doors and mains operated smoke alarms, together with nearly £2000 initially on an HMO Licence with renewals costing nearly £1000 every 3 years, just to legally allow 3 unrelated adults to share a 3 bedroom flat!

Whilst I don't approve of this landlord flouting the law and previous warnings, I do think we need to recognise the current housing crisis and be more pragmatic in terms of where people are allowed to sleep, minimum bedroom sizes, use of large entrance halls etc.

Private rental properties tend to be much nearer to full occupancy on average than social or owner occupied houses, so allowing higher levels of occupation from willing renters would do a lot to improve the housing shortage and improve affordability of the current housing stock.

Why is no party proposing such an easy and affordable solution to at least part of our housing shortage?

There's a phrase about not letting "perfection" be the enemy of "good enough" but I don't think our politicians or benefit claimants have heard of it!

I have been in older Terraced houses in Hounslow, where one bedroom was off the other as Built not saying it’s a model to be followed but that’s the way people lived. I believe there were ex-local authority that had been sold off over the years. The clay plain tiled roofs and lofts were open space common to all.
I built up dividing walls with-in the loft spaces to make them individual units for people that lived there that I knew but even then some of the walls were staggered or flying Freeholds. Tell me more nothing good enough for them now fine the landlords we are everyone’s football.

That damned recurring elephant again, giving the Marxists all the opportunities they need to persecute the rest of us who are doing it honorably & fairly!

• Annoyed Landlord
• 26 June 2024 19:37 PM

If the opinion poll announced on GBNews this evening is correct, the Limp Dums will be the offical opposition.

God help us all because nobody else will.

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THEN OF COURSE THERE IS THE COUNCIL WHO LET 3100 HOMES FOR SIX YEARS WITH NO GAS SAFETY CHECKS. =. FINES , ZERO ,ZILCH,NOTHING
AS I ONCE SAID TO A POLITICIAN WHO ASKED ME WHAT I THOUGHT OF BRITISH JUSTICE
I REPLIED I THINK IT IS A TRULY EXCELLENT IDEA
ARE THEY THINKING OF INTRODUCING IT ANY TIME SOON

Shouldn’t the Council have the same rules, regulations, property condition and Compliances as the Private Housing Sector or are their Tenants lives less important.
That would be far better than charging us for nothing, We have to pay for our own maintenance and up grades and Compliance work, of Course all landlords administration costs has to be done by him for free his time is obligatory.
Where as Councils charge’s landlords for subbing it out to a software Company just a keyboard exercise, they’ll never break a sweat.