The manner in which increasing numbers of local authorities are rolling out additional licensing schemes covering smaller HMO (Houses in Multiple Occupation) properties in the private rented sector has been questioned by Theresa Wallace, Chair of the Lettings Industry Council, in an article in the Daily Telegraph [paywall].

The Telegraph submitted a series of freedom of information requests to a number of authorities on their licensing schemes. It found that "hundreds of landlords have been fined for failing to have the correct licences", 5 landlords in the City of Westminster received criminal convictions and in another borough, 40 fines totalling £172,000 were imposed on landlords. The article says that "landlords were typically fined £10,000 - £15,000.

Theresa Wallace told the newspaper that licensing schemes were inconsistent across different local authorities and that councils were "trying to catch landlords out" because "landlords and letting agents falling foul of licensing regulations were simply naive or caught unawares by tenants who had moved another person into a property". Saying that additional licensing schemes were not well publicised [by councils] she also asked "Why would anyone think to look on their local authority website? Anybody could be caught out by pure naivety".

The LIC Chair went on to add that the likelihood was that more such licensing schemes would be rolled out by councils and that this would "in turn generate more profit for local councils". The Telegraph article [paywall] goes on to point out that Lewisham Council had imposed 19 fines on landlords totalling £77,135 for 8 failures to apply for an HMO licence and 11 failures to comply with licensing regulations.

It should be pointed out however, that most discretionary licensing schemes (selective licensing or additional licensing) are telegraphed well in advance in local news outlets in relevant boroughs as well as at the time a scheme is scheduled to go live and councils also carry out public consultations on discretionary licensing prior to giving approval (or refusing approval) to designate a scheme in their area.

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