HMO licensing

Making a complaint about a HMO

All houses in multiple occupation should be safe and well managed. When something goes wrong, the first person you should contact is the landlord or agent responsible for maintenance. If they do not fix the issues, you should contact us. The Council is responsible for investigating poor housing conditions and will do its utmost to ensure that Landlords fulfil their legal obligations. Licence holders of HMOs have certain duties and they are required to comply with licence conditions. Tell us if you have any concerns about the HMO, including:

• Issues affecting the health, safety or welfare of tenants, such as no working fire alarms
• Disrepair, waste accumulations or overgrown gardens
• If you suspect a property is overcrowded (have more people living there than a maximum number of people specified on the licence).

To submit a disrepair or overcrowding complaint, you need to register on the Online Portal. If you are already registered (since September 2022), you can just log in. Then go to Service Requests section and select the HMO Complaint option. You will be required to provide some basic information in order for us to investigate.

Where a complaint regarding poor condition in the HMO is received, the case officer may contact the tenant(s) and ask them to provide photographic or video evidence to enable the Council to assess the risk. If however all necessary information has been provided, the officer will inspect the property and contact the licence holder or property manager directly.