A Portsmouth rent-to-rent agency which let out overcrowded and unlicensed HMOs has been handed a hefty fine.

The agency managed a large number of HMOs in the city, which officers at Portsmouth City Council suspected weren’t licensed correctly and were overcrowded. However, when they tried to visit the properties, they were refused access by tenants who had been told by the agency not to let them in.

After getting warrants to gain entry, officers confirmed the properties were unlicensed HMOs, but the agency’s director proceeded to harass the tenants in an attempt to evict them.

Admitted

During a hearing at Portsmouth Crown Court, the director admitted multiple indictments under the Protection of Eviction Act 1977 as well as managing unlicensed HMOs, and failure to comply with HMO management regulations. He was sentenced to 200 hours of community service and told to pay a £114 victim surcharge for the harassment and eviction offences, while the agency was fined £1,000 and told to pay costs of more than £9,000.

For the offences relating to unlicensed properties, the director was fined £19,150 and the agency was ordered to pay £5,750.

Vulnerable

In sentencing, the judge said: “You were in a position of power, you held the keys to the roof over their head, they were vulnerable and didn’t know their rights…officers from the local authority were perfectly entitled to enter the property to ensure the occupants’ welfare, something you as a landlord should also have been doing.”

The homes are now being let and managed directly by the owners, and the tenants have been awarded the equivalent of two months’ rent as compensation.

Councillor Lee Hunt (pictured), cabinet member for community safety, adds: “The council will continue to prosecute rogue landlords and agents who break HMO rules, to protect tenants and neighbours alike. Homes that aren’t correctly licensed or overcrowded will be found out, and we will use the full force of the law.”

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