r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	zellisgoatbond
Comment	So there's quite a few reasons: * Landlords and letting agents aren't stupid by any means - they can usually tell pretty clearly if a group of people are pretending to not be an HMO. Even if you think they're bastards who would overlook it just to get tenants in, demand is high enough at the moment that they don't need to take that risk. * Especially before HMO licensing was brought in, the condition of a lot of HMOs was absolutely shocking, and really dangerous. While the regulations can be a bit onerous, they also serve really important purposes when it comes to things like fire safety. IIRC around the mid 80s when HMOs were first defined in law in the UK, around 2% of people lived in HMOs, but HMOs made up around 15% of all deaths from house fires. * A side effect of these regulations is that the "barrier to entry" of setting up an HMO is a fair bit higher than most properties. This can cause issues with supply, but this also means that you tend to deal with more experienced landlords/letting agents. There are still unscrupulous HMO landlords, certainly, but the consequences of fucking up are much more severe (you're talking £50,000 fines, paying back 12 months rent to each tenant, that sort of thing). * Another reality is that, especially in "studenty" areas, tenants in HMOs are frequently quite transient, in that they're moving pretty regularly, and if you have too many HMOs in an area that can have a pretty big impact on the rest of the community. To take a similar example, a lot of communities up in the Highlands have really struggled in the last few years with an increase in short term accommodation/airbnbs, since people in those places don't stay there very long and don't end up contributing much to the overall community. HMO regulations can be frustrating, certainly, but they exist for very, very good reasons.
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/vedere/venting_about_flat_hunting_in_this_city/ictalj3/
Created	Sat 18th Jun 2022 9:48am
Status	normal ()

So there's quite a few reasons:

* Landlords and letting agents aren't stupid by any means - they can usually tell pretty clearly if a group of people are pretending to not be an HMO. Even if you think they're bastards who would overlook it just to get tenants in, demand is high enough at the moment that they don't need to take that risk.
* Especially before HMO licensing was brought in, the condition of a lot of HMOs was absolutely shocking, and really dangerous. While the regulations can be a bit onerous, they also serve really important purposes when it comes to things like fire safety. IIRC around the mid 80s when HMOs were first defined in law in the UK, around 2% of people lived in HMOs, but HMOs made up around 15% of all deaths from house fires.
* A side effect of these regulations is that the "barrier to entry" of setting up an HMO is a fair bit higher than most properties. This can cause issues with supply, but this also means that you tend to deal with more experienced landlords/letting agents. There are still unscrupulous HMO landlords, certainly, but the consequences of fucking up are much more severe (you're talking £50,000 fines, paying back 12 months rent to each tenant, that sort of thing).
* Another reality is that, especially in "studenty" areas, tenants in HMOs are frequently quite transient, in that they're moving pretty regularly, and if you have too many HMOs in an area that can have a pretty big impact on the rest of the community. To take a similar example, a lot of communities up in the Highlands have really struggled in the last few years with an increase in short term accommodation/airbnbs, since people in those places don't stay there very long and don't end up contributing much to the overall community.

HMO regulations can be frustrating, certainly, but they exist for very, very good reasons.