Will HMO licensing be used to hold landlords responsible for tenants anti-social behaviour?
As a licensed landlord it will be your duty to take reasonable steps to ensure that tenants are not causing problems within the boundaries of the property through anti-social behaviour. We envisage for example, if the landlord has a complaint from a neighbour about loud music late at night or rubbish left lying around the property, it would be the responsibility of the landlord to talk to the tenants and work with other agencies, such as the Council, to try to resolve any problems. If the local housing authority sets a condition on the licence about anti-social behaviour it will be expected to work closely with landlords to combat the problem. If you report anti-social behaviour to the appropriate authority but that authority then chooses not to act, or takes only limited action, you will be deemed to have taken appropriate action and should not be considered to have breached the conditions of your licence.
