Hounslow Council Announces Crackdown on HMO Landlords
Borough has received over 600 complaints over last year
Cllr Bruce [right] has urged residents to report suspected breaches. Picture: Hounslow Council
March 25, 2026
Hounslow Council has issued a warning to all HMO (House of Multiple Occupation) landlords putting them on notice to meet legal standards or face immediate enforcement.
This comes after Hounslow Council received over 600 complaints in the last 12 months relating to HMOs. Complaints focused heavily on antisocial behaviour, fly-tipping, and overcrowding.
Landlords have been given four weeks to review their properties and take corrective action to ensure they are meeting legal standards. If properties remain unsafe or poorly managed thereafter, landlords face immediate fines of up to £30,000, prosecution or formal banning orders.
The letter reads: “Take this letter as a clear warning: Any property found to be poorly managed, unsafe, non‑compliant, or causing nuisance to neighbours will be subject to immediate fines or prosecution, without further notice. Persistent breaches may result in licence revocation or a formal banning order.”
The council has also launched a new enforcement team that will carry out unannounced spot checks on HMOs to inspect safety standards, tenant conditions and management arrangements – without prior warning.
Over the last six months alone, the local authority has issued £180,000 in fines for substandard accommodation. Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Cllr Tom Bruce, Deputy Leader of the Council, said: “This letter sets out to all landlords now very clearly where we sit as a council and what we expect from them in return.
“If you want to be a landlord in Hounslow, this is what you’ve got to do. You follow the rules, you do the right thing and ensure your tenants are living well…
“We are going to rely on tenants or people in the neighbourhood to report things… I want people to know that it’s anonymous and it gives us an opportunity to investigate that and then go in and we can understand exactly what’s going on.”
Two recent enforcement cases illustrate the severe safety hazards facing HMO tenants that the council is targeting with this new campaign. In August 2025, an inspection of an unlicensed HMO in West Hounslow found severe overcrowding.
The council found 11 people from seven households living in one house, with four people living in the rented outbuilding – bringing the total for the property to 15 people. Officers discovered dangerous fire risks including highly flammable wood cladding over the kitchen ceiling, no fire doors and unlinked smoke alarms.
The kitchen was significantly too small, possessing only one cooker and sink for 15 residents. The landlord was handed a £21,600 civil penalty in November 2025 (which included a 20% discount because the landlord submitted a late licence application in October).
In a separate case, another landlord was fined £15,000 by Hounslow Council in October 2025 for serious, unaddressed breaches of HMO Management Regulations that were still present months after an inspection in February 2025.
The property suffered from extensive disrepair, including a toilet leaking water directly into the kitchen, collapsed ceilings, damaged front doors, broken window handles, dirty communal areas, and an accumulation of bulky waste dumped out the front of the house.
If you have concerns about the standard of housing or a HMO you live in, or nearby, you can report this by emailing Housing.Enforcement@hounslow.gov.uk.
Philip James Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter
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