Putting the squeeze on: landlords now face unlimited fines for letting rooms considered unsafe or too small

Landlords who let out punishingly small spaces the size of a converted cupboard to desperate renters face unlimited fines as part of a new crackdown.

From this month people who live in unsafe and overcrowded houses will enjoy greater legal protection.

This summer there was outrage when a “modern small self-contained studio flat in the heart of Hampstead village”, on offer for £1,100 per month on spareroom.co.uk, turned out to be a tiny single room with barely four feet of space between the bed and the kitchen sink.

In Beckton, east London, a four-bedroom house was discovered to have been fitted with 11 sleeping spaces, including one in a 3ft by 6ft understairs cupboard, while bunk beds were crammed into single rooms.

Letting agent Marvel Estates, in Forest Hill, was recently fined £7,500 for squeezing 23 people into a house licensed by the council for six sharers in Gants Hill.

From now on the landlords of homes rented out to five or more people from at least two different households must adhere to set minimum room sizes.

A child’s bedroom must be at least 50sq ft, a single room for an adult at least 70sq ft, and a double room at least 110sq ft. To put this into perspective a typical UK parking bay is around 126sq ft.

Landlords who fail to get a licence, meet the new size requirements, or offer basic safety measures such as fire alarms and regular checks on gas and electrical equipment, can be given a fixed penalty fine of up to £30,000 or, in the most serious cases, be prosecuted and face an unlimited fine.

However, hundreds of thousands of tenants currently living in smaller properties are not protected by the new regulations, which industry experts claim could rebound on renters.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research estimates licensing will cost landlords an average of £1,200. These costs will inevitably be passed on.

It is also feared some landlords will reduce the number of rooms they rent out in order to evade the licensing system, meaning some tenants could face eviction.