0:01 AM, 1st August 2025, About 4 months ago 21
Text Size
Categories:
A BBC probe airing tonight (Friday) reveals a surge in unlicensed Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) across London, exposing tenants to hazardous and cramped living conditions.
Reporter Tarah Welsh delves into the capital’s shadowy rental sector, meeting residents trapped in properties lacking basic amenities, legal agreements or personal space.
The BBC says that its evidence points to some HMO hotspots have more unlicensed properties that licensed.
One London borough says it has 3,000 licensed HMOs, but estimates there could really be two or three times that number.
One expert calculate that in one part of Newham, there could be more than 700 unlicensed HMOs where there are 75 licensed homes.
In Tower Hamlets, one area could have 500 unlicensed HMOs, with just 50 being publicly listed.
And around Old Kent Road in Southwark, there are 232 licensed HMOs but there could be more than 300 illegal ones.
The BBC blurb says these stories highlight a growing black-market housing crisis, where criminal landlords exploit vulnerable tenants while evading regulations.
Ms Welsh’s investigation uncovers how these property owners profit by flouting laws designed to ensure safe and manageable homes.
Despite licensing schemes aimed at protecting tenants, many HMOs operate under the radar for years.
That’s because overstretched local councils struggle to enforce compliance, even when violations are flagged up to them, the programme says.
The programme also questions why countless illegal HMOs in the capital go unnoticed and explores the risks for those living in them.
One tenant recounts his ordeal in a two-bedroom flat shared with 20 others, where a deadly fire erupted.
Elsewhere, a family of four lives in a single room.
It follows a controversial Panorama broadcast which focused on estate agents and conditional selling, costing homebuyers thousands of pounds extra in fees and add-on services.
The broadcast, For Rent: Rooms Under the Radar, airs on BBC 1 at 8pm but only in London, though it will be available on iPlayer after the programme is broadcast.
Every day, landlords who want to influence policy and share real-world experience add their voice here. Your perspective helps keep the debate balanced.
Not a member yet? Join In Seconds
Login with
Previous Article
Five councils slammed by regulator for poor housing standards
Cider Drinker
Read Full Bio
You're Missing Out!
Members can reply to discussions, connect with experienced landlords, and access full member profiles showing years of expertise. Don't stay on the sidelines - join the UK's most active landlord community today.
Not a member yet? Join In Seconds
Login with
Member Since December 2023 - Comments: 1513
9:35 AM, 1st August 2025, About 4 months ago
Shameful return to the slums.
Council will turn a blind eye as it eases the homelessness problem.
Will the RRB fix this with its excellent, government-procured database? We saw how much the Horizon database earned for the Post Office.
N N
You're Missing Out!
Members can reply to discussions, connect with experienced landlords, and access full member profiles showing years of expertise. Don't stay on the sidelines - join the UK's most active landlord community today.
Not a member yet? Join In Seconds
Login with
Member Since February 2023 - Comments: 36
10:06 AM, 1st August 2025, About 4 months ago
You see this a lot, somehow even with the imminent RRB coming in these slum landlords skirt all the enforcement.
Monty Bodkin
You're Missing Out!
Members can reply to discussions, connect with experienced landlords, and access full member profiles showing years of expertise. Don't stay on the sidelines - join the UK's most active landlord community today.
Not a member yet? Join In Seconds
Login with
Member Since June 2014 - Comments: 1543
10:10 AM, 1st August 2025, About 4 months ago
Drive out good landlords with waves of useless legislation and the criminals take over.
It’s going to get a lot worse.
Andrew Clark
You're Missing Out!
Members can reply to discussions, connect with experienced landlords, and access full member profiles showing years of expertise. Don't stay on the sidelines - join the UK's most active landlord community today.
Not a member yet? Join In Seconds
Login with
Member Since November 2022 - Comments: 3
10:31 AM, 1st August 2025, About 4 months ago
If a criminal landlord is someone whose properties don’t meet all the regulations, then the biggest criminal landlords are the councils themselves.
It’s ironic that councils can impose huge civil penalties yet frequently don’t comply with their reduced levels of regulations.
homemaker
You're Missing Out!
Members can reply to discussions, connect with experienced landlords, and access full member profiles showing years of expertise. Don't stay on the sidelines - join the UK's most active landlord community today.
Not a member yet? Join In Seconds
Login with
Member Since August 2019 - Comments: 58
10:33 AM, 1st August 2025, About 4 months ago
Unfortunately this is the reality. Most local authorities lack sufficient resource to carry out their statutory responsibilities, and the lack of housing provision means that ‘rogue’ landlords can get away with providing poor housing. Perhaps the forthcoming landlord register will enable tenants to discriminate against those landlords not registered but I suspect their circumstances will mean that they will continue to be exploited.
Monty Bodkin
You're Missing Out!
Members can reply to discussions, connect with experienced landlords, and access full member profiles showing years of expertise. Don't stay on the sidelines - join the UK's most active landlord community today.
Not a member yet? Join In Seconds
Login with
Member Since June 2014 - Comments: 1543
10:59 AM, 1st August 2025, About 4 months ago
Reply to the comment left by at 01/08/2025 – 10:33
“Perhaps the forthcoming landlord register will enable tenants to discriminate against those landlords not registered”
I’ve just had 40+ desperate enquiries for a rental property and I guarantee not one of them gives a damn if I’m on a register or not.
Reluctant Landlord
You're Missing Out!
Members can reply to discussions, connect with experienced landlords, and access full member profiles showing years of expertise. Don't stay on the sidelines - join the UK's most active landlord community today.
Not a member yet? Join In Seconds
Login with
Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3334 - Articles: 5
11:03 AM, 1st August 2025, About 4 months ago
Reply to the comment left by at 01/08/2025 – 10:33
the new LL database will be pointless. The bad LL’s clearly wont be registering on it.
Trouble is tenants who are desperate enough to have to live in these slums are exactly the ones NOT wanting to inform the Council are they? Either they will be afraid of LL’s turfing them out (there an then) if they are found ‘dobbing’ the landlord into the Council, or (is probably more the case), they are themselves illegal/have no right to rent in the first place.
The more this is allowed to carry on, the reality is it will only increase. The changes of the LL getting actually found out, and then prosecuted are zero to at best negligible.
Reluctant Landlord
You're Missing Out!
Members can reply to discussions, connect with experienced landlords, and access full member profiles showing years of expertise. Don't stay on the sidelines - join the UK's most active landlord community today.
Not a member yet? Join In Seconds
Login with
Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3334 - Articles: 5
11:04 AM, 1st August 2025, About 4 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Monty Bodkin at 01/08/2025 – 10:59
ahh but the rent will reflect the fact the government thinks that its in the tenants best interest.
Apparently the government knows best….
Reluctant Landlord
You're Missing Out!
Members can reply to discussions, connect with experienced landlords, and access full member profiles showing years of expertise. Don't stay on the sidelines - join the UK's most active landlord community today.
Not a member yet? Join In Seconds
Login with
Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3334 - Articles: 5
11:04 AM, 1st August 2025, About 4 months ago
Reply to the comment left by at 01/08/2025 – 10:33
this includes their own stat duties in regards to their own properties too!
Ian Narbeth
Read Full Bio
You're Missing Out!
Members can reply to discussions, connect with experienced landlords, and access full member profiles showing years of expertise. Don't stay on the sidelines - join the UK's most active landlord community today.
Not a member yet? Join In Seconds
Login with
Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 1951 - Articles: 21
11:44 AM, 1st August 2025, About 4 months ago
Reply to the comment left by N N at 01/08/2025 – 10:06Absolutely, the real rogue landlords don’t care if they are in breach of 2 regulations or 20. However,responsible landlords have to comply with all 20 regulations which puts their costs up which leads to higher rents, which gives a competitive advantage to the rogues.
Councils like those mentioned then go after the “low hanging fruit” of the decent landlord who has made a minor mistake and fine him or her, deterring them from expanding their business and providing more homes.