Some 700 HMOs will soon be subject to licensing regim...

Warwick council is the latest to introduce an Additional Licensing Scheme for HMOs.

The district wide scheme will start on January 18 homes and follows a public consultation earlier this year.

It will require houses, converted flats or purpose-built flats (including student accommodation) occupied by three or more persons living as two or more households to legally obtain an HMO licence in order to continue to operate.

In the coming weeks the council will be contacting all those affected including landlords, letting and managing agents, advising them to ensure that they have all the necessary documents and safety certificates in place in order to submit their licence application ahead of when the new legislation comes into force.

A spokesperson says: “We are expecting in the order of 700 HMOs to require licensing under this new scheme. Many of these properties have never had a formal inspection by the Council, so this is a great opportunity to bring these additional homes under our licensing umbrella, meaning that they will comply to a high standard of safety and repair, greatly benefitting tenants and members of the wider community.”

Landlords who have already informed the council that their property falls under the new Additional Licensing regulations will be issued with an application pack.

We're excited to announce that we're working on building a shiny new website for readers of Landlord Today! As part of this process, commenting on articles will be temporarily disabled. We look forward to sharing our new and improved Landlord Today website with you shortly!