Hello readers,

I recently watched a shocking BBC documentary called For Rent: Rooms Under the Radar that revealed some shocking practices around HMOs in London.

It’s practices like this that give HMO landlords a bad name and often make the public think HMOs are an incredibly negative thing for society. Whilst I know these things happen, they really did shock me:

• Tenants had no tenancy agreements in place
• One man, for example, lived in a two-bed flat with 20 others where a fatal fire broke out
• A family of four were squeezed into just one room
• Properties were riddled with damp, black mould, dangerous electrics, rats and more

An example is one property in Waltham Forest, where a shared bedroom was advertised at £330 per month and when the undercover reporter who enquired about the room visited, he was met by about ten young men who all appeared to be living in the property. The room itself was shared between three and some beds had no bedding or mattresses.

One London borough (not named) said it has 3,000 licensed HMOs but estimates there are 2-3 times more in reality. The documentary revealed even more shocking statistics as one part of Newham was found to have over 700 possible HMOs where there are only 75 licensed and in Tower Hamlets, nearly 500 HMOs where there are only 50 licensed!

The public opinion of HMOs is poor even closer to home, where Dartford’s leader Jeremy Kite described some HMOs in the borough as being magnets for crime and anti-social behaviour. He went on to say that HMOs do not have a place in a modern, civilised housing economy.

I wanted to share my thoughts on this because I can fully understand how the reputation of the industry has somewhat been let down by these rogue landlords. It may not, however, always be the landlords’ fault as some may have allowed a guaranteed rent company to take over their property and the superior landlord may be none the wiser.

We have seen a significant rise in HMOs during the cost-of-living crisis and in the face of rising rents, I do think HMOs may help provide the solution.

However, there are far too many agents who poorly manage their properties, often those who charge low fees and fail to keep the HMOs under management compliant. Licensing exists to help tackle the issue of rogue HMO landlords, but where local councils are so overwhelmed and under-funded it can be impossible to manage.

I am certain that once the Renters’ Rights Bill becomes law, we will see more cases of this type of mismanagement, along with a rise in criminal practices such as fake licences, illegal subletting and unfair rent-to-rent arrangements.

There are certainly many good HMOs, landlords and managing agents, however it’s crucial for landlords (and tenants) to do their research. I will be interested to see how the number of HMOs in Medway have increased over the past few years and have submitted a FOI request to Medway Council with a series of additional questions that I will be reporting on soon.

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this and if you are a landlord with an agent managing your property, how do you go about making sure they are doing a good job? The best way to reach be is by emailing hasan@home-share.co.uk.

Hasan