The Landlords Union “Press Liaison” Questions HMO Minimum Room Size Impact Assessment

Reply to the comment left by Ross Tulloch at 12/05/2018 - 11:22
OK, so new rules in England that we already had in Scotland. I fully accept that.

Reply to the comment left by Ross Tulloch at 12/05/2018 - 11:22
A family can have their children in a house with smaller rooms. If I decided to evict all the tenants from my hmo and rent it as a single unit it’s fine for a large family to put there 18+ years old son or daughter in the said room with no consiqence. What’s the difference?

The rents for all my rooms in the same HMO are all the same price, regardless of the size, so a 6.5sqm room is the same rent as a 12sqm room. I currently have a tenant in a large room (over 12sqm) who WANTS to move into the smallest room (6.48sqm) which has just been vacated, as he says that he prefers a small room, even though the rent will be the same! In the past I've also had tenants (at other addresses) saying that they prefer a small room. The point is, that not everyone wants a big room, and that may be for a whole range of reasons, not just because the rent is usually lower. If people WANT a small room, for whatever reason, why should they be denied this?

Personally I would prefer a large room, as I believe most people would, but people are not all the same, so one person's preference can be very different to another person's preference.

Reply to the comment left by Badger at 12/05/2018 - 08:51
I agree, if houses are built with a small third bedroom, and the architects, builders, and Councils (as many were built by Councils), all class them as a "bedroom", then where is the justification for saying that when a private landlord buys the property, suddenly those "bedrooms" can no longer be counted as a "bedroom"? The size of the room has not changed, only the ownership of the property!

When a Council rents out a Council house, they will still be counting the third bedroom as a "bedroom", and indeed will charge so called "bedroom tax" on it if you do not need a third bedroom for your household. Thus, a Council landlord can rent it out as a bedroom (for an adult), but a private landlord is not allowed to rent it out as a bedroom (if part of a HMO). - This is surely blatant discrimination and double standards?

Reply to the comment left by Mark Alexander at 12/05/2018 - 11:27
Mark, this is the level of infantile argument that is best avoided. The issue is systemic. Such small 'barely rooms' should not be allowed. For sure not in HMOs. A house in which there is a 'small room' is slightly different matter. And let's not kid ourselves - HMO owners are not in it for the social good but for profit. I have been working with owners and developers for 37 years and know the game, with all its carbuncles. We have in fact designed the UK's smallest flat, fully functioning, with a wc/shower room, kitchen space, and bed platform. All on some 10m2, ceiling height of 3.5m. It sold few years ago for £120K to a willing buyer. We have also designed a three bedroom 100m2 house on a sliver of land some 2.9m wide, that was empty for some 30 years, small-ish rooms but fully functional and usable. So to recap - the issue is systemic. The system should not allow inadequate and inhuman, prison cell-like spaces, to be created, then they would not be available for rent. A level playing field. What to do with those 'cells' that already exist is not a subject that I am commenting on here. I would also add that I have seen some idiotic space wasting layouts, that with a bit of thought and ingenuity could be improved.

Reply to the comment left by marek at 12/05/2018 - 14:06
Thank you for your considered response but none of it addresses any of the questions raised in my post you appear to be responding to, so I will ask them again.

Are you suggesting that all the people who live in small rooms should be forced to move out just because some pen pusher thinks it is a good idea? What if they can't afford a bigger room? Where are they supposed to live then, a tent, on the streets?

And what about all the other tenants in that property whose budgets will need to be increased to accommodate the fact that less people will be contributing to the running costs of the property?

If you think they are infantile questions please reconsider because they are very real issues affecting real people right now.

Reply to the comment left by marek at 12/05/2018 - 14:06Marek, you are presumably rich enough to make this decree about what people should be living in. Sadly also ignoring what it then will mean to those on the tightest budgets. If the room already exists, it is up to us to offer it for the best use. No one is forced to rent a room they do it of their own free will

Reply to the comment left by marek at 12/05/2018 - 14:06
PS - just in case the reality of facts have eluded you until now, the reality in the the UK is that there is a shortage of housing accommodation which has been getting progressively worse for decades.

How can you possibly reconcile that reducing the number of available letting rooms will help?

After spending hours researching, I conclude that no one has a clue what an HMO actually is because the almost understandable HM Gov site appears to be undermined by threats from the local council who seem to think that they can charge anything they want for anything that has a door.
So it’s just another Rip off tax created by councils that already charge full council tax on empty properties. Charges for absolutely nothing by menaces would be illegal if it wasn’t the council.
What bothers me though, have the Government
considered the implications of throwing tenants onto the street because their bedroom could be a tad too small.
And have they made provision for the Police to stop rejected tenants sleeping in shop door ways that could also be too small.

Reply to the comment left by Ross Tulloch at 12/05/2018 - 14:12
Rich is not a component of the discussion. It is the system. We also work in Denmark and the comparison of space standards with the UK is really shocking and sad... It's the system that got us to where we are.