York Press reported on the City of York Council’s ‘crackdown’ on rental properties, after its inspectors discovered many of the 117 houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) checked had no ‘proper windows’, missing ceilings or were ‘lacking’ fire safety measures. Housing manager Ruth Abbott said that the council was ‘disappointed’ with the standards, with ‘inadequate’ fire safety and ‘a lack of’ carbon monoxide detectors just two of the fire and health and safety issues found.
Other homes had windows ‘hanging off frames’, while a student house had a bedroom with no outside window ‘but an internal window into the kitchen’, and another home had a toilet with no suspended ceiling – the building’s landlord stating that ‘someone had pinched it’. One house with 35 residents found that five of the bedsits were too small and should not be rented out, while another featured no fire detection system nor fire doors across the property.
She added that inspections were being carried out under new laws demanding HMOs be licensed, with one landlord fined £30,000 for not having a licence, though ‘in most cases’ they have 18 months to ‘bring homes up to scratch’ before a prosecution is considered, and training is also provided to landlords.
Ms Abbott commented: ‘We hadn’t anticipated finding quite as much as we have done out there and we haven’t inspected a big chunk of the properties yet. We are looking at the worst properties to start with. Fire safety and room size are priorities. We have been slightly disappointed with the standards we have found. We would encourage anybody to report anything to the council.’
Fellow councillor Michael Pavlovic stated: ‘We have heard about houses with rooms with no visible light at all - these are some really quite shocking examples of the housing conditions within the city. I was shocked to read about some of the standards, even though I suspected things were on the whole not as good as we would have liked.’
Stephen Fenton, chair of the housing committee, also responded: ‘Surely it’s your responsibility as the business owner to make sure you’re equipped with the knowledge and the expertise before you embark on an endeavour, only to then belatedly find out you are hopelessly out of your depth and you’re putting people at risk.
‘It’s impressive in itself what [the housing team] have been able to achieve in a short space of time. This is an evolving picture - we will look at what the findings are telling us about what’s out there and what we might need to do in terms of expansion.’