More than 77,000 UK landlords will be shelling out a combined £95 million this month, as new occupancy laws come into effect from October 1, according to new research.

The legislation dictates that any landlord with a property housing five or more people must have a specific HMO license, whereas previously only those that housed five or more people and were three or more storeys high, had to have a license.

The changes to the law are set to affect over 160,000 properties, with 77,194 landlords being expected to apply for the new license according to a study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research conducted for Currys PC World Business.

The research has revealed that the new licensing laws will hit landlords with a bill for £1,235 each, totalling £95,399,845 for the sector.

“It’s easy to forget that the majority of the UK’s landlords also have other jobs, so applying for new licences isn’t top of their priorities, meaning the government has a big job to do between now and 1 October, to raise awareness of this new law” says Paul Hilliard of the Landlord National Purchasing Group, which contributed to the survey.