Article by Des Taylor – Landlord Licencing Specialist.
Everything’s quiet. Your tenants are settled. No complaints. No chaos. No drama.
You’ve been managing your HMOs for over a decade with barely a ripple. You know the drill. And then, it happens. Your HMO licence expired.
You missed the renewal window. Simple oversight. You were away — maybe sunning yourself on a well-earned break. The reminder letter landed while you were away. When you got back? It was buried under a pile of mail that looked like the usual junk. Easily missed.
Weeks later, the council pings you an email. Attached are scanned copies of the letters you never saw. Your licence expired months ago, and now… the descent begins. At first, it doesn’t feel like trouble. The licensing officer seems polite. Friendly, even. Soft emails nudging you to submit a new application.
You try to. But you don’t have everything they’re asking for. Certificates are missing. You thought they’d been done. But the EICR? Nowhere to be found. You rummage through old files. You find something — a certificate — but it turns out it’s for a one-off electrical job, not the actual report required under the regulations.
Out of desperation, you upload three identical copies of your gas safety certificate just to move forward. Now the system lets you submit. And you think you’ve complied. Except you haven’t. Not according to the law. And certainly not according to the council.
What you submitted isn’t a duly made application — and without that, you have no legal defence. Weeks turn into months. The tradesperson you need? Disappeared. The fire risk assessor you finally book? Highlights issues and now you’ve handed over written evidence against yourself. No up-to-date EICR. No regular inspections documented.
Your application still incomplete 6 months later. Your property? Still unlicensed. And then… the council speaks to your tenants. They’re told the property is unlicensed. And that they can apply for a Rent Repayment Order.
From a few months late to now 18 months unlicensed.
And to make matters worse? There isn’t one property. There are two.
The likely fines?
£12,500 per property – operating an unlicensed HMO
£17,000 per property – HMO Management Regulation 4 breaches
£8,500 per property – HMO Management Regulation 7 breaches
£12,500 – Electrical Safety Regulation breach
That’s £105,000.
For what started as a forgotten date. For not having a system. For not having processes. For not investing in compliance before holidays, takeaways, and nights out.
None of this is new. The laws have been here for years.
Enforcement is now fast, automated, and well-funded. Housing enforcement isn’t just a department anymore — it’s a self-funding machine inside every local council. And it’s hungry. This isn’t scaremongering.
It’s the reality that’s caught out thousands of landlords who thought this wouldn’t happen to them.
It does. It is. Right now. All across the country.
Some landlords will be ruined. Others will lose the profits of a decade in a single year. Some will be forced to sell their portfolio just to clear the penalties.
It’s not dramatic — it’s just enforcement, working as designed. The only real protection is compliance. And the only way to get compliant — properly compliant — is by working with people who know this system inside out.
This is a call to action to choose compliance over complacency. Because enforcement isn’t slowing down. It’s accelerating at mammoth speed.
Original article here; https://www.facebook.com/destaylorlandlords
