A prominent figure in the redress industry is predicting a bleak private lettings sector when the Renters Rights Bill becomes law this autumn.
Sean Hooker, head of redress at Property Redress, is predicting a landscape of “sham licences, illegal subletting, and exploitative rent-to-rent arrangements.”
Following a BBC investigation into illegal HMOs over the weekend, Hooker says: “We know that when rules are tightened, the worst offenders simply find new ways to bypass them.
“Once the Renters Rights Bill becomes law, it is likely we will see a rise in creative criminal practices such as sham licences, illegal subletting, and exploitative rent-to-rent arrangements.
“Until we can clearly distinguish between what a safe, transparent and well-regulated sector looks like, and shine a beacon on this, the rogue element will continue to operate in the shadows, endangering tenants and destroying the reputation of those who play by the book.”
The BBC says it uncovered “a widespread black market rental sector where people are forced to live in unsafe spaces.”
It continues: “Photos, videos and testimony from the people living in several properties like these showed unsanitary and overcrowded homes, with adults sleeping on bare mattresses in bunk beds, contending with black mould, rats and, in some cases, conditions that proved to be deadly.
“….Evidence in three London house-share hotspots we examined suggests that in some places there are more unlicensed, black-market HMOs than there are legal ones. One London borough told us it has 3,000 licensed HMOs, but estimates there are two or three times that number in reality.
“In shop windows in east London, we noticed many ads for properties that did not appear to conform to licensing laws, often offering a ‘bedspace’ in shared rooms. We also found adverts online that appeared to show mould or dirt in the shared rooms.”
A BBC undercover reported responded to some of these adverts and viewed the rooms, filming with a hidden camera.
In one property in Waltham Forest, where there was a shared bedroom advertised at £330 a month, he was met by about 10 young men who all appeared to live there. The room on offer was shared between three people, another was shared between four – and on some of the beds, there was no bedding or even mattress.
The BBC reports: “One of the men told us they were subletting and admitted there was no HMO licence – as the local authority register confirmed. A company representing the property owner later told us that the tenancy agreement ‘expressly forbids’ subletting and multiple occupancy and that the property had never been let or advertised for those purposes. It said it had taken prompt action when it learned of the contract breach.”
Many of the tenants worked as food-delivery riders, and in one instance there was a report of a fire started by a faulty e-bike battery charging under a bunk-bed.
The BBC report goes on to discuss the issue with Ben Yarrow, who runs a website called Marks Out Of Tenancy, which carries reviews of landlords.
The BBC’s online report says the site “flags potential unlicensed HMOs by searching through a range of financial data sources to identify properties associated with large numbers of people who have different surnames” with Yarrow being asked to to scan specific postcodes in three London boroughs.
“In part of Newham, where there are only 75 licensed properties, he found more than 700 possible HMOs. In part of Tower Hamlets, he found nearly 500 suspected HMOs. The council has publicly listed only 50 HMO licences here, although it said more properties were licensed. And around Southwark’s Old Kent Road, Mr Yarrow found more than 300 possible HMOs – despite there being only 232 official licences listed.”
For Rent: Rooms Under the Radar Watch on iPlayer
