Is this a bit ott for renting?

[atasteofhoneyy]

We are moving abroad and putting the house up for rent. It’s a 4 bed terrace. We live in inner London and it’s likely we’ll get a group of young professional housemates rather than a family.

We’ve just got a fireproofing guy to come and check the house to make it renter compliant. He has told us we need to plasterboard a load of walls/ under the stairs. Plasterboard the ceiling. Emergency lights to replace our light fittings. He’s charging £3.5k just to come and install fire alarms.

I understand we have to have fire doors and fire alarms/ PAC testing. Emergency exit signs fine. But the plasterboard, drilling through the living room wall to install a special fire alarm (we already have Nest protect on each floor), putting in emergency lights, feels a bit over the top and a bit ‘HMO’.

AIBU? Whenever we’ve rented in the past we’ve not had these kinds of set ups.

For a normal rental not every council requires a licence. Mine doesn't...... yet.

You must be mad to rent to a load of unconnected PR professionals. I'd prefer to charge less and rent to a family or couple who want an office each.
The damage bill will be massive if you HMO it.

If you’re looking to renting it as HMO, then the rules are much tighter and require more than if you’re renting to a family.

You have literally no idea what you're talking about.

A house in multiple occupation (HMO) is a property rented out by at least 3 people who are not from 1 ‘household’ (for example a family) but share facilities like the bathroom and kitchen. It’s sometimes called a ‘house share’.

https://www.gov.uk/find-licences/house-in-multiple-occupation-licence

Did they change the rules for that recently? Flat share and HMO never used to be the same did they? I guess I've just been a victim of slumlords.

The rules for HMO’s changed in 2018.

5+ tenants from 2 or more households requires a landlord to be licensed. However, some are stricter than that - here for example any more then 3 people from 2 or more households requires licensing. Scotland’s general rule is three or more unrelated people. The Op would have to find out the specific rules in their area.

You don’t have to have a license to rent out to a family, single person or two people in all areas. I am a landlord and our council doesn’t require licensing unless you’re a HMO or you have more than three properties.

Changed many times in the last few years (I say few, more likely in the last twenty since I was in one!) In London especially it was because of LLs over occupying proprieties which led to pressure on services, rubbish collection etc as well as just awful living conditions for the tenants (eg having eight adults in a four bed)

Op you definitely need to find the rules for your local council as it does vary. If your house has a third floor (eg more than ground + first floor) that will have a big impact on the fire reg requirements too, including things like emergency lighting.

It does seem like a lot for a standard terrace house, but safety rules have tightened up a lot over the years. Out of curiosity, what is the purpose of plasterboarding over existing walls?

Was the fire risk assessor registered with an appropriate professional body? If so, I doubt they'd suggest unecessary changes.

https://www.rics.org/consumer-guides/fire-safety-landlords-rented-shared-accommodation

feels a bit over the top and a bit ‘HMO’.

It's literally going to be an HMO if you rent it out to professionals/co-renters.

As well as the rules around HMOs (as others have said, check with your local council), there are separate issues if there's a loft conversion - if that's the case you have to ensure there are appropriate fire safety measures in place (including wired smoke alarms) to rent the property out at all.

Yes, a loft conversion makes a big difference.

It is unusual for a terraced house to have four bedrooms on only two floors.

Some of the London boroughs have more stringent requirements than others (Southwark tend to want a lot, from memory) so you need to find out what the borough requires and if it will differ depending on their relationship to each other. Your agent themselves should be able to advise on local requirements, if they cant, you need to find a more competent one!!

Then there are other things you need to get done to meet the "latest" rental legal requirements, which you dont need to do if you are selling the house or continuing to live there yourself. We have been renting our London home out in similar circumstances for the last 18 months (currently working abroad) and had to spend money updating things for this reason.

On a note about possible tenants - we realised that the "target market" for our 4 bed house in an affluent area of SW London was actually fairly small, as all of the "normal" families who can afford it are looking to buy as mortgage rates are much lower than rent. All of the viewers were groups of siblings joining up to rent a bigger place, a married couple and their friend, a divorced woman, her kids and her mum etc... we were initially v surprised, but then we get more than double our mortgage in rent even after we have paid the agent fees. The other issue now is that you cant "evict" tenants other than for specific reasons (which does include returning to live in it!) meaning ideally you will look for people who want it long term rather than just while they get their extension/school application done, as they now only have to give 2 months notice that they are leaving, then you will be subject to doing it all again (which is stressful, particularly from abroad if there is a significant time difference) plus whatever extras they have added to landlord legisilation in the interim.

The 2022 Fire Regulations came into force in England on 23 January 2023 so if you rented before that, it could be why this now feels OTT.

You can look all the regulations up online for your borough OP.

Sounds like you’re making it a hmo? So yes that’s pretty standard and also check for local licensing.

OP calls a fire regs expert in to advise on fire regs needs. OP then argues with his advice 🙄

That’s HMO requirements.

Key bit you need to decide is whether you’re going the HMO route or not. You need to read up on your councils info as the thresholds aren’t standardised.

Out of curiosity, what is the purpose of plasterboarding over existing walls?

Fireproof plasterboard. Under a staircase is a classic area for non compliant plasterboard. Sounds like OP has a house with a loft conversion.

Never rely on a letting agent. You are responsible so you need to check yourself (as Rachel Reeves found out last year).

If it's a multiple occupancy you have to have more stringent rules. Just rent it out as a normal house

Please don't pay £3.5k to install fire alarms. He sounds like a rip-off cowboy. You could do it yourself for under a couple hundred pounds, unless you put an alarm in every room - which will still be under £500.

He’s a bloke who makes a living out of this.

If you want impartial fire reg advice you can ask the fire brigade.

Thank you. That's why I seem so ignorant. Plus my landlords probably broke the rules.

I think it's only if there's three or more non related people in there it's HMO now? But yeah it seems confusing. And sorry I didn't mean to give false info.

For sure. Get a fire officer in. He will tell OP what needs doing.

And then the original guy will do it 😆

I'm an electrician OP, what you describe is for compliance for an HMO - for a conventional one family rental, fire alarms (which can be battery, but mains are better) EICR, Gas Safe / OFTEC certificate as appropriate, landlords insurance, PAT testing for any portable appliances you furnish, license with the council in some areas.

Fire doors, exits, signage, emergency lighting, fire-proofing are all HMO territory.